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Updated: Jun 12, 2025
A Method to Study the Correlation Between Local Collagen Structure and Mechanical Properties of Atherosclerotic Plaque Fibrous Tissue
Published on: November 11, 2022
Coronary atherosclerotic plaque characterization with silicon-based photon-counting computed tomography (CT): A
Mengzhou Li1, Mingye Wu2, Jed Pack2
1Biomedical Imaging Center, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Research, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA.
Deep-silicon photon-counting CT (PCCT) shows promise for detailed coronary plaque characterization. This advanced imaging technology offers superior resolution and contrast, potentially improving cardiovascular diagnostics, but requires mitigation of motion artifacts.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging Physics
- Cardiovascular Disease Imaging
- Photon-Counting Computed Tomography (PCCT)
Background:
- Photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) offers enhanced spatial resolution and spectral imaging for plaque characterization.
- Deep-silicon detectors present unique performance advantages over traditional CZT- or CdTe-based PCCT detectors.
- Current PCCT imaging for coronary plaque primarily utilizes CZT- or CdTe-detector materials.
Purpose of the Study:
- To numerically assess the feasibility of plaque characterization using a deep-silicon PCCT scanner.
- To demonstrate the potential performance benefits of deep-silicon PCCT compared to energy-integrating detector (EID) CT scanners.
- To investigate the impact of spatial resolution, noise, and motion artifacts on plaque imaging.
Main Methods:
- A systematic simulation study was performed using a digital plaque phantom with realistic properties.
- The study evaluated qualitative and quantitative imaging parameters, including spatial resolution, noise, and motion artifacts.
- Deep-silicon PCCT scanner performance was compared against traditional EID-CT scanners.
Main Results:
- Noise-free simulations showed PCCT significantly improved necrotic core boundary delineation (SSIM 0.970) and reduced area errors by two-thirds.
- Fibrous cap thickness errors were reduced from 349.8% to 33.3% with PCCT.
- Optimal reconstruction with 0.25 mm voxels and soft kernel yielded high contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of 3.48, but ultrahigh resolution increased motion sensitivity, requiring motion amplitude below 0.4 mm.
Conclusions:
- Deep-silicon PCCT provides high spatial resolution and tissue contrast for effective plaque characterization, potentially enhancing diagnostic accuracy in cardiovascular imaging.
- Mitigation of image noise and motion blur through advanced algorithms is crucial for clinical translation.
- Further validation with physical scans is necessary to confirm simulation findings.
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