The feasibility of dual-energy imaging using a fast kV-switching method on an angiographic C-arm CT system was investigated. Direct measurements of beam quality in the x-ray field demonstrate the stability of the kV-switching method. Phantom and in vivo experiments showed that images did not deviate from those of corresponding kV-constant scans. All performed experiments confirmed the capability of performing fast kV-switching scans on a clinically available C-arm CT system. More complex material decomposition tasks and postprocessing steps will be part of future investigations.
C-arm angiography systems offer great flexibility in the acquisition of trajectories for computed tomography. Theoretically, these systems are able to scan patients while standing in an upright position. This would allow novel insights into structural changes of the human anatomy while weight bearing. However, this would require a scan on a horizontal trajectory parallel to the ground floor which is currently not supported by standard C-arm CT acquisition protocols.In this paper, we compared the standard vertical and the new horizontal scanning trajectories by analysis of the source positions and source to detector distances during the scan. We employed a C-arm calibration phantom to compute the exact scan geometry. Based on the analysis of the projection matrices, we computed the source position in 3D and the source to detector distance for each projection. We then used the calibrated scan geometries to reconstruct the calibration phantom. Based on this reconstruction in comparison to the ideal phantom geometry we also evaluated the geometric reconstruction error.As expected, both the vertical and the horizontal scan trajectories exhibit a significant C-arm "wobble". But in both kinds of trajectories, the reproducibility over several scans was comparable. We were able to reconstruct the calibration phantom with satisfactory geometric reconstruction accuracy. With a reconstruction error of 0.2 mm, we conclude that horizontal C-arm scans are possible and show properties similar to those of vertical C-arm scans.The remaining challenge is compensation for the involuntary movement of the standing subject during a weight-bearing acquisition. We investigated this using an optical tracking system and found that the average movement at the knee while standing upright for 5 seconds is between 0.42 mm and 0.54 mm, and goes up to as much as 12 mm when the subject is holding a 60º squat. This involuntary motion is much larger than the reconstruction accuracy. Hence, we expect artifacts in reconstructions to be significant for upright positions, and overwhelming in squat positions if no motion correction is applied.
This paper introduces an automatic non-contact monitoring method for measuring the respiratory rate of neonates using a structured light camera. The current monitoring bears several issues causing pressure marks, skin irritations and eczema. A structured light camera provides distance data. Our non-contact approach detects the thorax area automatically using a plane segmentation and calculates the respiratory rate from the movement of the thorax. Our method was tested and validated using the baby simulator SimBaby by Laerdal. We used different breathing rates corresponding to preterm neonates, mature neonates and babies aged up to nine months as well as two different breathing modes with differing breathing strokes. Furthermore, measurements were taken of two positions: the baby lying on its back and on its stomach.
This paper introduces an automatic non-contact monitoring method based on the synchronous evaluation of a 3D time-of-flight (ToF) camera and a microwave interferometric radar sensor for measuring the respiratory rate of neonates. The current monitoring on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has several issues which can cause pressure marks, skin irritations and eczema. To minimize these risks, a non-contact system made up of a 3D time-of-flight camera and a microwave interferometric radar sensor is presented. The 3D time-of-flight camera delivers 3D point clouds which can be used to calculate the change in distance of the moving chest and from it the respiratory rate. The disadvantage of the ToF camera is that the heartbeat cannot be determined. The microwave interferometric radar sensor determines the change in displacement caused by the respiration and is even capable of measuring the small superimposed movements due to the heartbeat. The radar sensor is very sensitive towards movement artifacts due to, e.g., the baby moving its arms. To allow a robust vital parameter detection the data of both sensors was evaluated synchronously. In this publication, we focus on the first step: determining the respiratory rate. After all processing steps, the respiratory rate determined by the radar sensor was compared to the value received from the 3D time-of-flight camera. The method was validated against our gold standard: a self-developed neonatal simulation system which can simulate different breathing patterns. In this paper, we show that we are the first to determine the respiratory rate by evaluating the data of an interferometric microwave radar sensor and a ToF camera synchronously. Our system delivers very precise breaths per minute (BPM) values within the norm range of 20–60 BPM with a maximum difference of 3 BPM (for the ToF camera itself at 30 BPM in normal mode). Especially in lower respiratory rate regions, i.e., 5 and 10 BPM, the synchronous evaluation is required to compensate the drawbacks of the ToF camera. In the norm range, the ToF camera performs slightly better than the radar sensor.
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