Virtual Monoenergetic CT Imaging via Deep Learning

Conventional single-spectrum computed tomography (CT) reconstructs a spectrally integrated attenuation image and reveals tissues morphology without any information about the elemental composition of the tissues. Dual-energy CT (DECT) acquires two spectrally distinct datasets and reconstructs energy-selective (virtual monoenergetic [VM]) and material-selective (material decomposition) images. However, DECT increases system complexity and radiation dose compared with single-spectrum CT. In this paper, a deep learning approach is presented to produce VM images from single-spectrum CT images. Specifically, a modified residual neural network (ResNet) model is developed to map single-spectrum CT images to VM images at pre-specified energy levels. This network is trained on clinical DECT data and shows excellent convergence behavior and image accuracy compared with VM images produced by DECT. The trained model produces high-quality approximations of VM images with a relative error of less than 2%. This method enables multi-material decomposition into three tissue classes, with accuracy comparable with DECT.