JPH0620449B2 - X-ray tomography system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application] The present invention belongs to the technical field of an X-ray tomography apparatus (hereinafter referred to as an X-ray CT apparatus).

(Problems to be Solved by Conventional Techniques) Conventionally, when an X-ray CT apparatus obtains an X-ray tomographic image (hereinafter referred to as a tomographic image) for a desired slice plane of a subject, for example, a patient, the position of the patient is fixed. As it is, all projection data from all directions on the slice plane is collected by irradiating X-ray from the X-ray tube while rotating the X-ray tube around the patient in the vertical plane having the slice plane. Then, image reconstruction is performed based on all the projection data, and a tomographic image of the desired slice plane is displayed on the display device.

Then, when obtaining a plurality of tomographic images for a plurality of different slice planes of the patient by the X-ray CT apparatus,
X-ray tube 180 ° or 36 for the first slice plane
After rotating by 0 ° and collecting all projection data on the first slice plane, the operation of the X-ray tube was stopped,
Time-consuming horizontal movement of the patient such that the X-ray tube lies in a vertical plane having a second slice plane, and then rotation and X-ray exposure of the X-ray tube about the second slice plane. I have to.

Therefore, the conventional X-ray CT apparatus has a problem in that when a plurality of tomographic images are obtained for different slice planes, the patient is restrained for a long time, and thus the operating efficiency of the X-ray CT apparatus is deteriorated. Furthermore, in the conventional X-ray CT system,
When acquiring multiple tomographic images for different slice planes of a patient injected with a contrast agent, the patient's physiological state changes between collecting projection data for the first slice plane and collecting projection data for the last slice plane. Therefore, there is a problem that it is impossible to obtain a plurality of tomographic images under the same physiological condition.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an X-ray tomography apparatus capable of reducing the time for restraining a subject and shortening the acquisition time of a plurality of slice planes. It is what

[Means for Solving the Problems] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention transmits an X-ray source that radiates X-rays while rotating around the subject and the subject that has passed through the subject. An X-ray detector that detects X-rays and one or both of the X-ray source and the subject are moved relatively in the body axis direction of the subject to perform a spiral scan on the subject. The scanning means, the data collecting means for collecting spiral data from the X-ray data detected by the X-ray detector by the spiral scanning, and the spiral data collected by this data collecting means are fetched, And an image reconstructing means for reconstructing an image using data in an arbitrary range of the spiral data.

(Operation) According to the present invention having the above-mentioned configuration, the scanning unit spirals with respect to the subject by moving one or both of the X-ray source and the subject in the body axis direction of the subject. Scanning. In this spiral scan, the X-ray source emits X-rays while rotating around the subject, and the X-ray detector detects the X-rays that have passed through the subject. The data collecting means collects spiral data from the X-ray data detected by the X-ray detector. The image reconstructing unit takes in the spiral data collected by the data collecting unit, and reconstructs an image using data in an arbitrary range of the spiral data.

As a result, a tomographic image at an arbitrary position can be obtained from the above spiral data.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to examples.

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of an X-ray CT apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a gantry, which is provided with an insertion hole 6 into which the subject M placed on the bed top plate 2 is inserted, and an X-ray tube 3 serving as an X-ray source with the inserted subject M interposed therebetween. The X-ray detector 4 is arranged so as to face it. here,
The X-ray tube 3 is controlled by the high-voltage generator 7 to generate X-rays, and the X-ray tube drive controller 5 controls the insertion hole 6
Is configured to rotate around the
The line detector 4 is configured by arranging a plurality of single detectors in an array along the circumferential surface of a cylindrical holding member that is obliquely arranged. The X-ray of the object transmitted from the X-ray tube 3 is detected. Is always received by a part of the detector 4. The couch top 2 can be continuously moved along the body axis direction of the subject M by the couch drive control device 8 (also referred to as subject moving means). Reference numeral 9 is a data collection device that collects data obtained by the X-ray detector 4, 10 is a correction calculation device for making the data in the data collection device appropriate reconstruction data, and 11 is a correction calculation device. An image reconstructing device performs image reconstruction based on the data sent from 10, and a display device 12 performs display based on the image data from the image reconstructing device 11. Reference numeral 13 is a system control device that controls the above-described devices.

Next, the operation will be described.

In the above apparatus, it is assumed that fan beam-shaped X-rays (hereinafter also simply referred to as fan beams) are generated from the X-ray tube 3, and the X-ray detector 4 detects the fan beam as one unit. In addition, the fan beam does not stop rotating at 360 °, and
It shall be capable of continuous 0 rotation or infinite continuous rotation. Such continuous rotation can be realized by using a known slip ring or by employing an electron beam scan as disclosed in USP No. 4158142. Then, the subject M is continuously moved by the middle bed drive control device 8 while the fan beam is continuously rotated to collect data. It is assumed that this movement amount is advanced by P mm per one rotation of the fan beam. According to this structure, it is equivalent to a translational movement in the body axis direction while the fan beam rotates with respect to the stationary subject M,
The fan beam spirally moves around the subject M to collect data (spiral scan). That is, the spiral scan is performed by the combination of the movement of the X-ray source and the subject. The data thus obtained can be defined as spiral data. Therefore, as in this embodiment, not only the CT apparatus (fourth generation CT apparatus) that rotates only the X-ray tube 3 with the X-ray detector 4 fixed, but also the X-ray tube and the X-ray detection that are arranged opposite to each other. The spiral data as described above can also be obtained by a CT device (third generation CT device) that relatively drives the vessel. When the positions of the X-ray source and the fan beam of the spiral scan are observed from the direction perpendicular to the body axis direction, a sine waveform XL having a period Pmm as shown in FIG. 2 is drawn.

Next, a method for reconstructing an image from the data obtained as described above will be described. First, generally, a method of dividing the entire volume of the scan range into small elements and reconstructing them at once, for example, X from the slice points S ₁ to S ₂ in FIG.
When considering the data obtained by one rotation of the ray tube, the image reconstruction for each plane is performed by approximating that the fan beam position is fixed at the center of the positions X ₁ and X ₂ in the X direction in FIG. A known method (USP No. 4149247) for performing In addition, the data obtained by two rotations from the points S ₁ to S ₃ are bundled (overlaid) by the following formula (1).
If the data for one rotation is used, the slice position X ₂ can be reconstructed as representative scan data.

Here, θ is the rotation angle of the X-ray tube 3 and the X-ray fan beam FB as shown in FIG. 3, and takes a value of 0 to 360 °.
P ₁₂ (θ, ψ) is projection data obtained while the relative position of the X-ray tube 3 to the subject M is from S ₁ to S ₂ in FIG. ₂ , and P ₂₃ (θ, ψ) is the same X-ray tube. Relative position is S ₂ to S ₃
This is the projection data obtained during the period.

And, the above method can be deduced up to the case of obtaining an image for one slice by three rotations or more.

A thin slice tomographic image can be obtained when the number of bundled data is small, and a thick slice tomographic image can be obtained when the number of data is large. By thus arbitrarily selecting the number of data to be bundled, it is possible to obtain a tomographic image of a slice having an arbitrary thickness.

Furthermore, the same effect as in the above case can be obtained by independently reconstructing the projection data obtained in each rotation and averaging a plurality of obtained images.

As described above, it is useful to bundle data of a plurality of continuous rotations to form one image in order to reduce artifacts. That is, generally in an X-ray CT apparatus,
The thickness of the X-ray fan beam as viewed from the side is not parallel X-rays, and is therefore substantially proportional to the X-ray tube. When an object is inspected with an X-ray beam in this manner, if the object has a large change in the slice thickness direction, it will include a slightly contradictory portion for each angle θ at which projection data is taken, and an artifact often called a clipping effect is generated. Will be born. A phenomenon similar to this occurs in the case of the present invention, which will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4, A is the intensity profile in the slice thickness direction of the X-ray fan beam obtained when the X-ray tube is at the S ₁ position (that is, X = X ₁ ) in FIG. 2. The slice thickness at this time is tmm. As the X-ray tube rotates, the slice plane moves in the direction of the body axis of the subject. For example, at θ = 180 °, the X-ray tube position is not at the initial position X ₁ but advanced by P / 2. Position (X = X ₁ + P
/ 2). If P = t here, θ
The intensity profile and position in the slice thickness direction of the X-ray fan beam at = 180 ° are as shown in B of FIG. Here, in the waveforms of A and B, the hatched portions mean that the objects that are not common are measured.
Since the image reconstruction calculation is performed on the assumption that all projection data are the results of measuring the same subject, the hatched portions in the waveforms A and B are considered to cause some distortion in the image. . This is true not only for the relationship between θ = 0 ° and 180 °, but for all θ ranges. In particular, in the data collection method as in this embodiment, much development similar to the clipping effect is likely to occur.

The present invention solves such a problem by using the following principle. For example, when you want to get the effective slice width of tmm,
The subject M is sent at a rate of t / 2 mm per one rotation of the X-ray fan beam, and the X-ray fan beam FB is narrowed down to t / 2 mm by a collimator or the like. As a result, the intensity profile and position shown in FIG. 5 are obtained. In the figure, A and B are X-ray tube relative positions, respectively.
= X ₁ and X = X ₂ , the intensity profile and position in the slice thickness direction of the X-ray fan beam, C,
D is the same It was obtained. As a result, if the projection data are bundled as in the equation (1), the profile and position as shown in FIG. 6 can be obtained. That is, E and F waveforms are obtained in the slice thickness direction of the projection data obtained at θ = 0 ° and 180 °, respectively. The hatched portion is relatively small as compared with the case of FIG. 4 described above. That is, the distortion of the image is reduced.

Furthermore, when performing the spiral scan as described above, there are the following problems. Projection data collection was started at θ = 0 °, and the position θmax near θ = 360 ° was obtained.
When the collection of projection data for one image is completed, the scan plane to be measured is different between (0, ψ) and P (θmax, ψ), so that the content of the data is considerably different. It is well known that when there is a discontinuous difference between adjacent data in this way, an artifact is more likely to occur as compared with a continuous shift. In order to solve such a problem, the present invention includes a correction calculation device 10 that performs the following processing. The principle of this correction arithmetic device is that one part obtained at the beginning or one part obtained at the end of the data to be used for image reconstruction of one slice plane (slice plane) is obtained before or after that. It is corrected by the data obtained at the same rotation angle in the data of the tomographic plane.

The projection data obtained at θ = 0 to θX is data P ′ (θ,
ψ) is substituted (θX is arbitrarily set according to the size of the necessary image reconstruction area and the degree of reduction of artifacts).

P ′ (θ, ψ) = W (θ) · P ₁₂ (θ, ψ) + (1−W (θ)) · P ₂₃ (360 ° + θ, ψ) (2) where W (θ) At θ = 0 ° as shown in FIG.
It is a function that connects 0, θ = θX to 1 and connects them with a straight line, for example, without a sharp change.

Instead of such correction, the data P ′ (θ, θ, which has been subjected to the arithmetic processing of the following equation (3) for conversely correcting the data obtained at θ = θY to θmax with the data obtained by the previous rotation
ψ) is substituted (θY has the same meaning as θX).

P ′ (θ, ψ) = W (θ) · P ₁₂ (θ, ψ) + (1-W (θ)) · P ₂₃ (θ-360 °, ψ) (3) where W (θ ) Is a function that connects 1 with θ = θY and 0 with θmax, and connects them with a straight line, for example, without a sharp change.

By providing such a correction arithmetic unit 10, adjacent data can be evaluated as a continuous deviation, so that the occurrence of artifacts can be reduced. Note that the above correction is for the case where an image is created by one rotation from S ₁ to S ₂ and slightly extended from that, but one image is created by rotating it twice or three times and slightly extending it. It goes without saying that it is possible to create.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the X-ray C for making one image from the projection data obtained from 0 to 360 °
Although T has been described, it can be applied to the X-ray CT apparatus as shown in FIG. 8 which reconstructs an image from scan data of less than 360 °. That is, the X-ray source moves reciprocally or one-way at high speed on the orbit XL, and the detector group 4'is arranged along the range of about 2/3 of the circumference, and the object M is repeatedly scanned. Should be sent continuously. Also in this case, it is possible to obtain projection data for one image from the X-ray source 3'from a to b. With such a device, a locus in which U-shaped scans are continuous can be obtained as shown in FIG. The data obtained by this can be defined as modified spiral data. in this case,
In FIG. 8, the movement of the X-ray source 3'is so fast that the movement speed from b to a (return) can be ignored compared to the movement speed from position a to b (during data collection). This has to be done, but this is fully possible by employing the known electron beam scanning. According to the apparatus of this embodiment, since the moving time of the X-ray source 3'can be shortened, the slice interval Pmm can be minimized. Therefore, the projection data of many times can be superposed by expanding the equation (1). Creating an image for one slice makes it easy to reduce artifacts.

In the present invention, since the data is continuously collected within a certain range in the body axis direction of the subject, the starting point of the data range used for reconstruction is the subject such as S ₀ , S ₁ ... Not only the point directly above the sample, but also any arbitrary spiral position can be taken. Here, it goes without saying that the data range used for reconstruction requires data of at least half a circle or more. As described above, according to the present invention, an arbitrary tomographic image can be obtained in the body axis direction of the object by spirally determining the position of the data range used for reconstruction.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention described in detail above, it is possible to obtain spiral data capable of reconstructing a plurality of images by one spiral scan, so that the time for binding the subject can be reduced. At the same time, a tomographic image of an arbitrary position of the subject can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing a relative orbit of the X-ray source according to the embodiment, FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view showing a state of a fan beam according to the embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a reason why distortion occurs in an image. And FIGS. 5 and 6 are explanatory views of the reason why the distortion occurring in the image can be reduced by adopting the apparatus of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 shows the function used for the correction calculation. Explanatory diagram, FIG. 8 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a relative orbital explanatory diagram of the X-ray source according to the other embodiment. 1 ... Stand, 2 ... Bed top, 3, 3 '... X-ray source, 4 ... X-ray detector, 5 ... X-ray drive control device, 6 ... Detector drive device, 7 ... High-voltage generator, 8 ... Bed drive control device, 9 ... Data collection device, 10 ... Correction calculation device, 11 ... Image reconstruction device, 12 ... Display device, 13 ... System control device.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An X-ray source that irradiates X-rays while rotating around a subject, an X-ray detector that detects X-rays that have passed through the subject, and any one of the X-ray source and the subject. Scanning means for spirally scanning the object by moving one or both of them relative to the body axis direction of the object, and X-rays detected by the X-ray detector by the spiral scanning. Data collecting means for collecting spiral data from the data, and image reconstruction for taking in the spiral data collected by the data collecting means and performing image reconstruction using data in an arbitrary range of the spiral data An X-ray tomography apparatus comprising: 2. The X-ray tomographic section according to claim 1, wherein the scanning means moves the subject in the body axis direction while the X-ray source is rotating around the subject. Imaging device. 3. The X-ray tomography apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said scanning means moves an X-ray source rotating around the subject in the body axis direction of the subject.