Assessment of Photon-Counting Computed Tomography for Quantitative Imaging in Radiation Therapy

To test a first-generation clinical photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) scanner's capabilities to characterize materials in an anthropomorphic head phantom for radiation therapy purposes.

A CIRS 731-HN head-and-neck phantom (CIRS/SunNuclear) was scanned on a NAEOTOM Alpha PCCT and a SOMATOM Definition AS+ with single-energy and dual-energy CT techniques (SECT and DECT, respectively), both scanners manufactured by Siemens (Siemens Healthineers). A method was developed to derive relative electron density (RED) and effective atomic number (EAN) from linear attenuation coefficients (LACs) of virtual mono-energetic images and applied for the PCCT and DECT data. For DECT, Siemens' syngo.via "Rho/Z"-algorithm was also used. Proton stopping-power ratios (SPRs) were calculated based on RED/EAN with the Bethe equation. For SECT, a stoichiometric calibration to SPR was used. Nine materials in the phantom were segmented, excluding border pixels. Distributions and root-mean-square deviations within the material regions were evaluated for LAC, RED/EAN, and SPR, respectively. Two example ray projections were also examined for LAC, SPR, and water-equivalent thickness, for illustrations of a more treatment-like scenario.

There was a tendency toward narrower distributions for PCCT compared with both DECT methods for the investigated quantities, observed across all materials for RED only. Likewise the scored root-mean-square deviations showed overall superiority for PCCT with a few exceptions: for water-like materials, EAN and SPR were comparable between the modalities; for titanium, the RED and SPR estimates were inferior for PCCT. The PCCT data gave the smallest deviations from theoretic along the more complex example ray profile, whereas the more standard projection showed similar results between the modalities.

This study shows promising results for tissue characterization in a human-like geometry for radiation therapy purposes using PCCT. The significance of improvements for clinical practice remains to be demonstrated.