TY - JOUR
T1 - Potential benefits of photon counting detector computed tomography in pediatric imaging
AU - Horst, Kelly K.
AU - Yu, Lifeng
AU - McCollough, Cynthia H.
AU - Esquivel, Andrea
AU - Thorne, Jamison E.
AU - Rajiah, Prabhakar Shanta
AU - Baffour, Francis
AU - Hull, Nathan C.
AU - Weber, Nikkole M.
AU - Thacker, Paul G.
AU - Thomas, Kristen B.
AU - Binkovitz, Larry A.
AU - Guerin, Julie B.
AU - Fletcher, Joel G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Published by the British Institute of Radiology.
PY - 2023/11/1
Y1 - 2023/11/1
N2 - Photon counting detector (PCD) CT represents the newest advance in CT technology, with improved radiation dose efficiency, increased spatial resolution, inherent spectral imaging capabilities, and the ability to eliminate electronic noise. Its design fundamentally differs from conventional energy integrating detector CT because photons are directly converted to electrical signal in a single step. Rather than converting X-rays to visible light and having an output signal that is a summation of energies, PCD directly counts each photon and records its individual energy information. The current commercially available PCD-CT utilizes a dual-source CT geometry, which allows 66 ms cardiac temporal resolution and high-pitch (up to 3.2) scanning. This can greatly benefit pediatric patients by facilitating high quality fast scanning to allow sedation-free imaging. The energy-resolving nature of the utilized PCDs allows “always-on” dual-energy imaging capabilities, such as the creation of virtual monoenergetic, virtual non-contrast, virtual non-calcium, and other material-specific images. These features may be combined with high-resolution imaging, made possible by the decreased size of individual detector elements and the absence of interelement septa. This work reviews the foun-dational concepts associated with PCD-CT and presents examples to highlight the benefits of PCD-CT in the pediatric population.
AB - Photon counting detector (PCD) CT represents the newest advance in CT technology, with improved radiation dose efficiency, increased spatial resolution, inherent spectral imaging capabilities, and the ability to eliminate electronic noise. Its design fundamentally differs from conventional energy integrating detector CT because photons are directly converted to electrical signal in a single step. Rather than converting X-rays to visible light and having an output signal that is a summation of energies, PCD directly counts each photon and records its individual energy information. The current commercially available PCD-CT utilizes a dual-source CT geometry, which allows 66 ms cardiac temporal resolution and high-pitch (up to 3.2) scanning. This can greatly benefit pediatric patients by facilitating high quality fast scanning to allow sedation-free imaging. The energy-resolving nature of the utilized PCDs allows “always-on” dual-energy imaging capabilities, such as the creation of virtual monoenergetic, virtual non-contrast, virtual non-calcium, and other material-specific images. These features may be combined with high-resolution imaging, made possible by the decreased size of individual detector elements and the absence of interelement septa. This work reviews the foun-dational concepts associated with PCD-CT and presents examples to highlight the benefits of PCD-CT in the pediatric population.
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U2 - 10.1259/bjr.20230189
DO - 10.1259/bjr.20230189
M3 - Review article
C2 - 37750939
AN - SCOPUS:85177684380
SN - 0007-1285
VL - 96
JO - British Journal of Radiology
JF - British Journal of Radiology
IS - 1152
M1 - 20230189
ER -