[Novel method of noise power spectrum measurement for computed tomography images with adaptive iterative...

Adaptive iterative reconstruction techniques (IRs) can decrease image noise in computed tomography (CT) and are expected to contribute to reduction of the radiation dose. To evaluate the performance of IRs, the conventional two-dimensional (2D) noise power spectrum (NPS) is widely used. However, when an IR provides an NPS value drop at all spatial frequency (which is similar to NPS changes by dose increase), the conventional method cannot evaluate the correct noise property because the conventional method does not correspond to the volume data natures of CT images. The purpose of our study was to develop a new method for NPS measurements that can be adapted to IRs. Our method utilized thick multi-planar reconstruction (MPR) images. The thick images are generally made by averaging CT volume data in a direction perpendicular to a MPR plane (e.g. z-direction for axial MPR plane). By using this averaging technique as a cutter for 3D-NPS, we can obtain adequate 2D-extracted NPS (eNPS) from 3D NPS. We applied this method to IR images generated with adaptive iterative dose reduction 3D (AIDR-3D, Toshiba) to investigate the validity of our method. A water phantom with 24 cm-diameters was scanned at 120 kV and 200 mAs with a 320-row CT (Acquilion One, Toshiba). From the results of study, the adequate thickness of MPR images for eNPS was more than 25.0 mm. Our new NPS measurement method utilizing thick MPR images was accurate and effective for evaluating noise reduction effects of IRs.