Evaluation of normalized metal artifact reduction (NMAR) in kVCT using MVCT prior images for radiotherapy treatment planning

Journal Article · Thu Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Medical Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1118/1.4812416· OSTI ID:22220501

Paudel, M. R. ^[1]; Mackenzie, M.; Rathee, S. ^[2]; Fallone, B. G. ^[3]

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1. Department of Oncology, Medical Physics Division, University of Alberta, 11560 University Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1Z2 (Canada)
2. Department of Medical Physics, Cross Cancer Institute, 11560 University Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1Z2, Canada and Department of Oncology, Medical Physics Division, University of Alberta, 11560 University Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1Z2 (Canada)
3. Department of Physics, University of Alberta, 11322-89 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G7 (Canada)

Purpose: To evaluate the metal artifacts in kilovoltage computed tomography (kVCT) images that are corrected using a normalized metal artifact reduction (NMAR) method with megavoltage CT (MVCT) prior images.Methods: Tissue characterization phantoms containing bilateral steel inserts are used in all experiments. Two MVCT images, one without any metal artifact corrections and the other corrected using a modified iterative maximum likelihood polychromatic algorithm for CT (IMPACT) are translated to pseudo-kVCT images. These are then used as prior images without tissue classification in an NMAR technique for correcting the experimental kVCT image. The IMPACT method in MVCT included an additional model for the pair/triplet production process and the energy dependent response of the MVCT detectors. An experimental kVCT image, without the metal inserts and reconstructed using the filtered back projection (FBP) method, is artificially patched with the known steel inserts to get a reference image. The regular NMAR image containing the steel inserts that uses tissue classified kVCT prior and the NMAR images reconstructed using MVCT priors are compared with the reference image for metal artifact reduction. The Eclipse treatment planning system is used to calculate radiotherapy dose distributions on the corrected images and on the reference image using the Anisotropic Analytical Algorithm with 6 MV parallel opposed 5 × 10 cm{sup 2} fields passing through the bilateral steel inserts, and the results are compared. Gafchromic film is used to measure the actual dose delivered in a plane perpendicular to the beams at the isocenter.Results: The streaking and shading in the NMAR image using tissue classifications are significantly reduced. However, the structures, including metal, are deformed. Some uniform regions appear to have eroded from one side. There is a large variation of attenuation values inside the metal inserts. Similar results are seen in commercially corrected image. Use of MVCT prior images without tissue classification in NMAR significantly reduces these problems. The radiation dose calculated on the reference image is close to the dose measured using the film. Compared to the reference image, the calculated dose difference in the conventional NMAR image, the corrected images using uncorrected MVCT image, and IMPACT corrected MVCT image as priors is ∼15.5%, ∼5%, and ∼2.7%, respectively, at the isocenter.Conclusions: The deformation and erosion of the structures present in regular NMAR corrected images can be largely reduced by using MVCT priors without tissue segmentation. The attenuation value of metal being incorrect, large dose differences relative to the true value can result when using the conventional NMAR image. This difference can be significantly reduced if MVCT images are used as priors. Reduced tissue deformation, better tissue visualization, and correct information about the electron density of the tissues and metals in the artifact corrected images could help delineate the structures better, as well as calculate radiation dose more correctly, thus enhancing the quality of the radiotherapy treatment planning.

• OSTI ID: 22220501
• Journal Information: Medical Physics, Vol. 40, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2013 American Association of Physicists in Medicine; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-2405
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ALGORITHMS
ANIMAL TISSUES
ANISOTROPY
ATTENUATION
CLASSIFICATION
COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY
CORRECTIONS
DEFORMATION
ELECTRON DENSITY
IMAGE PROCESSING
IMAGES
ITERATIVE METHODS
PHANTOMS
PLANNING
RADIATION DOSE DISTRIBUTIONS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIOTHERAPY