Direct information retrieval after 3D reconstruction in grating-based X-ray phase-contrast computed tomography

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Physics
• Computational Science

Background:

• Grating-based X-ray differential phase-contrast imaging offers advantages for clinical medicine, including compatibility with traditional X-ray sources and large field-of-view imaging.
• Phase-contrast computed tomography (CT) enables 3D visualization but typically requires 2D information retrieval from each projection before 3D reconstruction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel 3D information retrieval method for separating absorption and phase information directly from reconstructed images in phase-contrast CT.
• To validate the proposed method's feasibility and accuracy through theoretical derivations and numerical simulations.

Main Methods:

• A new 3D information retrieval algorithm was derived to directly separate absorption and phase information from two reconstructed images.
• Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations were conducted to verify the method's performance.
• The proposed method was compared with the reverse projection method, analyzing advantages and limitations.

Main Results:

• The proposed 3D information retrieval method successfully separates absorption and phase information directly from reconstructed images.
• Numerical simulations confirmed the feasibility and veracity of the method.
• The method demonstrated reduced computational time due to smaller data size and absence of logarithm operations compared to the reverse projection method.

Conclusions:

• The developed method offers an efficient approach for 3D information retrieval in grating-based X-ray differential phase-contrast CT.
• The technique allows for the direct utilization of existing absorption-based pre-processing and iterative reconstruction algorithms for phase reconstruction.
• This advancement facilitates the application of phase-contrast CT in clinical settings by streamlining the reconstruction process.