The present study aimed to investigate whether the in-plane resolution property of iterative reconstruction (IR) of computed tomography (CT) data is object shape-dependent by testing columnar shapes with diameters of 3, 7, and 10 cm (circular edge method) and a cubic shape with 5-cm side lengths (linear edge method). For each shape, objects were constructed of acrylic (contrast in Hounsfield units [∆HU] = 120) as well as a soft tissue equivalent material (∆HU = 50). For each shape, we measured the modulation transfer functions (MTFs) of IR and filtered back projection (FBP) using two multi-slice CT scanners at scan doses of 5 and 10 mGy. In addition, we evaluated a thin metal wire using the conventional method at 10 mGy. For FBP images, the MTF results of the tested objects and the wire method showed substantial agreement, thus demonstrating the validity of our analysis technique. For IR images, the MTF results of different shapes were nearly identical for each object contrast and dose combination, and we did not observe shape-dependent effects of the resolution properties of either tested IR. We conclude that both the circular edge method and linear edge method are equally useful for evaluating the resolution properties of IRs.

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The general method of measuring the half-value layer (HVL) for X-ray computed tomography (CT) using square aluminum-sheet filters is inconvenient in that the X-ray tube has to be set to stationary mode. To avoid this inconvenience, we investigated a new method using copper-pipe filters that cover the ionization chamber (copper-pipe method). Using this method, the HVL can be measured at the isocenter in the rotation modes of CT. We examined the accuracy and reproducibility of the copper-pipe method compared with those of the general method. The effective energy measured using the copper-pipe method correlated well with the general method (y=1.064x, r=0.987), and its error was 1.81±1.38%. The results indicate that the copper-pipe method enables accurate measurement of the effective energy of X-ray CT and is a convenient method suited to all general X-ray equipment as well as all X-ray CT.

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the image quality of an iterative reconstruction method, the iterative reconstruction in image space (IRIS), which was implemented in a 128-slices multi-detector computed tomography system (MDCT), Siemens Somatom Definition Flash (Definition). We evaluated image noise by standard deviation (SD) as many researchers did before, and in addition, we measured modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectrum (NPS), and perceptual low-contrast detectability using a water phantom including a low-contrast object with a 10 Hounsfield unit (HU) contrast, to evaluate whether the noise reduction of IRIS was effective. The SD and NPS were measured from the images of a water phantom. The MTF was measured from images of a thin metal wire and a bar pattern phantom with the bar contrast of 125 HU. The NPS of IRIS was lower than that of filtered back projection (FBP) at middle and high frequency regions. The SD values were reduced by 21%. The MTF of IRIS and FBP measured by the wire phantom coincided precisely. However, for the bar pattern phantom, the MTF values of IRIS at 0.625 and 0.833 cycle/mm were lower than those of FBP. Despite the reduction of the SD and the NPS, the low-contrast detectability study indicated no significant difference between IRIS and FBP. From these results, it was demonstrated that IRIS had the noise reduction performance with exact preservation for high contrast resolution and slight degradation of middle contrast resolution, and could slightly improve the low contrast detectability but with no significance.

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