Improving abdomen tumor low-dose CT images using a fast dictionary learning based processing

Phys Med Biol. 2013 Aug 21;58(16):5803-20. doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/58/16/5803. Epub 2013 Aug 6.

Abstract

In abdomen computed tomography (CT), repeated radiation exposures are often inevitable for cancer patients who receive surgery or radiotherapy guided by CT images. Low-dose scans should thus be considered in order to avoid the harm of accumulative x-ray radiation. This work is aimed at improving abdomen tumor CT images from low-dose scans by using a fast dictionary learning (DL) based processing. Stemming from sparse representation theory, the proposed patch-based DL approach allows effective suppression of both mottled noise and streak artifacts. The experiments carried out on clinical data show that the proposed method brings encouraging improvements in abdomen low-dose CT images with tumors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Abdominal Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Aged
  • Algorithms*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Radiation Dosage*
  • Time Factors
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / adverse effects
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods*