Adaptation of a channelized Hotelling observer model to accommodate anthropomorphic backgrounds and moving test objects in X‐ray angiography

Abstract

BackgroundPrior implementations of the channelized Hotelling observer (CHO) model have succeeded in assessing the performance of X‐ray angiography systems under a variety of imaging conditions. However, often times these conditions do not resemble those present in routine clinical imaging scenarios, such as having complex anthropomorphic backgrounds in conjunction with moving test objects.PurposeThis work builds up on prior established CHO methods and introduces a new approach to switch from the already established “multiple‐sample” CHO implementation to a “single‐sample” technique. The proposed implementation enables the inclusion of moving test objects upon nonuniform backgrounds by allowing only a single sample to represent the test object present condition that is to be used within the statistical test to estimate the detectability index.MethodsTo assess the proposed method, two image data sets were acquired with a clinical X‐ray angiography system. The first set consisted of a uniform background in combination with static test objects while the second consisted of an anthropomorphic chest phantom in conjunction with moving test objects. The first set was used to validate the proposed approach against the multiple‐sample method while the second was used to assess the feasibility of the proposed method under a variety of imaging conditions, including seven object sizes and seven detector target dose (DTD) levels.ResultsFor the uniform background data set, considering all detectability indices greater or equal than 1, the ratio between the detectability indices of the proposed single‐sample approach versus the multiple‐sample method was 0.997 ± 0.056 (range 0.884–1.159). The average single‐direction width of the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of the detectability index estimates for the multiple‐sample method was 0.38 ± 0.43 (range 0.03–2.20). For the single‐sample approach, the average width was 2.52 ± 0.63 (range 1.11–5.44). For the anthropomorphic background image set, the results were consistent with classical quantum‐limited signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) theory. The magnitude of the detectability indices varied predictably with changes in both object size and DTD, with the highest value associated with the highest dose and the largest object size. Additionally, the proposed method was able to capture differences in the imaging performance for a given test object across the field of view, which was associated with the attenuation levels provided by different features of the anthropomorphic background.ConclusionsA new single‐sample variant of the CHO model to assess the performance of X‐ray angiography imaging systems is proposed. The new approach is consistent with quantum‐limited image quality theory and with a standard implementation of the CHO model. The proposed method enables the assessment of moving test objects in combination with complex, nonuniform image backgrounds, thereby opening the possibility to assess imaging conditions which more closely resemble those used in clinical care.