HK>Newsgroups: sci.med.radiology
HK>Subject: CT scans -> density
HK>Date: 9 Jun 94 07:03:07 GMT
HK>Organization: Forschungszentrum Juelich
HK>
HK>Hi,
HK>
HK>is there any way to calculate a 3-dimensional density distribution (g/
HK>or atoms/ccm) out of a serie of CT scans?
HK>
HK>Thanks a lot,
HK>
Hi Hubert,
Yes, this can be done. The steps are:
1. Convert the pixel values of the individual axial scans into densities.
2. Use reformatting software to reconstruct images in the planes of
interest.
Step 2 can be done with commercially available software. The interesting
bit is step 1. Whether it is worthwhile for you to try step 1 will
depend on the following:
1. The level of accuracy required.
2. What it is you want to scan.
3. The quality of the CT images.
4. Whether your CT scanner has the capability to do dual energy work.
5. The ability to perform arithmetic operations on the CT images.
If you have a good quality CT scanner that can do dual energy then it
should be possible to achieve quite reasonable results. If you only have
single energy then less accurate results could still be achieved by making
certain assumptions.
To my knowledge there is no commercially available product for carrying
out step 1. Indeed most of the published work has concentrated on
computing electron densities, but I believe the extension to mass
density should be fairly straightforward.
If you have a Siemens scanner I would suggest you contact Dr W.A. Kalender
of Siemens.
Please email me if you would like to discuss this further.
Dr Alex Mitchell, Medical Physicist, Wellington Hospital, New Zealand
* WinQwk 2.0 a#0 * Unregistered Evaluation Copy
CT scans -> density