Approaches, advantages, and challenges to photon counting detector and multi-energy CT

Giuseppe V Toia; Achille Mileto; Amir A Borhani; Guang-Hong Chen; Liqiang Ren; Jennifer W Uyeda; Daniele Marin

doi:10.1007/s00261-024-04357-x

Approaches, advantages, and challenges to photon counting detector and multi-energy CT

Abdom Radiol (NY). 2024 May 15. doi: 10.1007/s00261-024-04357-x. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Giuseppe V Toia¹, Achille Mileto², Amir A Borhani³, Guang-Hong Chen⁴, Liqiang Ren⁵, Jennifer W Uyeda⁶, Daniele Marin⁷

Affiliations

¹ Departments of Radiology and Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 600 Highland Ave, Madison, WI, 53792, USA. gtoia@uwhealth.org.
² Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
³ Department of Radiology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁴ Departments of Radiology and Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 600 Highland Ave, Madison, WI, 53792, USA.
⁵ Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
⁶ Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ Department of Radiology, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA.

PMID: 38744702
DOI: 10.1007/s00261-024-04357-x

Abstract

Photon counting detector CT (PCD-CT) is the newest major development in CT technology and has been commercially available since 2021. It offers major technological advantages over current standard-of-care energy integrating detector CT (EID-CT) including improved spatial resolution, improved iodine contrast to noise ratio, multi-energy imaging, and reduced noise. This article serves as a foundational basis to the technical approaches and concepts of PCD-CT technology with primary emphasis on detector technology in direct comparison to EID-CT. The article also addresses current technological challenges to PCD-CT with particular attention to cross talk and its causes (e.g., Compton scattering, fluorescence, charge sharing, K-escape) as well as pile-up.

Keywords: Computed tomography; Multienergy CT; Photon counting CT.