Computer-Aided Detection of Colorectal Lesions with Super-Resolution CT Colonography: Pilot Evaluation

Reliable computer-aided detection (CADe) of small polyps and flat lesions is limited by the relatively low image resolution of computed tomographic colonography (CTC). We developed a sinogram-based super-resolution (SR) method to enhance the images of lesion candidates detected by CADe. First, CADe is used to detect lesion candidates at high sensitivity from conventional CTC images. Next, the signal patterns of the lesion candidates are enhanced in sinogram domain by use of non-uniform compressive sampling and iterative reconstruction to produce SR images of the lesion candidates. For pilot evaluation, an anthropomorphic phantom including simulated lesions was filled partially with fecal tagging and scanned by use of a CT scanner. A fully automated CADe scheme was used to detect lesion candidates in the images reconstructed at conventional 0.61-mm and at 0.10-mm SR image resolution. The proof-of-concept results indicate that the SR method has potential to reduce the number of FP CADe detections below that obtainable with the conventional CTC imaging technology.