Spectral CT systems with photon counting detectors have more advantages compared to conventional CT systems. However, clinical applications have been hampered for a long time due to the high demands of clinical systems and limitations of spectroscopic x-ray detectors. Photon counting detector technology has gained considerable improvements in the past decade, and spectral CT has become a hot topic. Several experimental spectral CT systems are under investigation. The purpose of this work was to perform the first direct, side-by-side comparison of existing spectral CT technology with a mature clinical CT system based on a conventional energy integrating detector. We have built an experimental spectral CT system whose main parameters are similar to the parameters of a clinical CT system. The system uses a spectroscopic cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector. The detector includes two rows of CZT pixels with 256 pixels in each row. The pixel size is 1 × 1 mm(2), and the maximum count rate is 2 Mcounts/pixel/s. The spectral CT system has a magnification factor of 1.62 and the source to detector and source to image distances of 85 and 53 cm, respectively. The above parameters are similar to those of the clinical CT system, Siemens Sensation 16, used for comparison. The two systems were compared by imaging spatial resolution and contrast resolution phantoms made from acrylic cylinders with 14 cm diameters. The resolution phantom included Al wires with 0.3, 0.6, and 1 mm diameters, and 0.25 g cc(-1) CaCO(3) contrast. The contrast phantom included contrast elements with 1.7, 5, and 15 mg cc(-1) iodine, and 1.1, 3.3, and 10 mg cc(-1) gadolinium. The phantoms were imaged with the two systems using 120 kVp tube voltage and 470 mR total skin exposure. The spectral CT showed CT numbers, image noise, and spatial and contrast resolutions to be similar within 10% compared to the Siemens 16 system, and provided an average of 10% higher CNR. However, the spectral CT system had a major advantage in that the iodine, gadolinium, and CaCO(3) contrasts were decomposed by dual-energy and K-edge subtraction methods using energy selective CT data acquired in a single CT scan and fixed tube voltage. It is concluded that photon counting spectral CT technology is close to feasibility for routine clinical applications. Furthermore, it is ready for some clinical applications such as dedicated breast CT which has relatively lower demands on photon counting detectors.

Characteristic x-ray escape deteriorates energy and spatial resolution, particularly for small pixel sizes. Correction methods should be developed based on the results of the simulations and experimental study.

Compact, room temperature x-ray spectroscopy detectors are of interest in many areas including diagnostic x-ray imaging, radiation protection and dosimetry. Room temperature cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) semiconductor detectors are promising candidates for these applications. One of the major problems for CZT detectors is low-energy tailing of the energy spectrum due to hole trapping. Spectral post-correction methods to correct the tailing effect do not work well for a number of reasons; thus it is advisable to eliminate the hole trapping effect in CZT using physical methods rather than correcting an already deteriorated energy spectrum. One method is using a CZT detector with an electrode configuration which modifies the electric field in the CZT volume to decrease low-energy tailing. Another method is to irradiate the CZT surface at a tilted angle, which modifies depth of interaction to decrease low-energy tailing. Neither method alone, however, eliminates the tailing effect. In this work, we have investigated the combination of modified electric field and tilted angle irradiation in a single detector to further decrease spectral tailing. A planar CZT detector with 10 × 10 × 3 mm³ size and CZT detector with 5 × 5 × 5 mm³ size and cap-shaped electrode were used in this study. The cap-shaped electrode (referred to as CAPture technology) modifies the electric field distribution in the CZT volume and decreases the spectral tailing effect. The detectors were investigated at 90° (normal) and 30° (tilted angle) irradiation modes. Two isotope sources with 59.6 and 122 keV photon energies were used for gamma-ray spectroscopy experiments. X-ray spectroscopy was performed using collimated beams at 60, 80 and 120 kVp tube voltages, in both normal and tilted angle irradiation. Measured x-ray spectra were corrected for K x-ray escape fractions that were calculated using Monte Carlo methods. The x-ray spectra measured with tilted angle CAPture detector at 60, 80 and 120 kVp tube voltages were compared to corresponding theoretical spectra. The low-energy tailing was nearly completely eliminated from 59.6 and 122 keV isotope spectra, and 60, 80 and 120 kVp x-ray spectra, when CAPture detector was used with 30° tilted angle irradiation. It is concluded that using a CZT detector with modified electric field in tilted angle configuration resolves problem of the tailing effect in CZT detectors, opening promising possibilities in gamma-ray and x-ray spectroscopy applications.

Removing the anti-scatter grid for small patients reduces patient dose without a substantial increase in scatter-to-primary ratio when the FOV is restricted appropriately. Radiologic technologists should base anti-scatter grid use on patient thickness and FOV rather than age.

The purpose of this work was to evaluate potential advantages and limitations of CZT detectors used in surface-on, edge-on, and tilted angle irradiation geometries. Simulations and experimental investigations of the energy spectrum measured by a CZT detector have been performed using different irradiation geometries of the CZT. Experiments were performed using a CZT detector with 10 x 10 mm2 size and 3 mm thickness. The detector was irradiated with collimated photon beams from Am-241 (59.5 keV) and Co-57 (122 keV). The edge-scan method was used to measure the detector response function in edge-on illumination mode. The tilted angle mode was investigated with the radiation beam directed to the detector surface at angles of 90 degrees, 15 degrees, and 10 degrees. The Hecht formalism was used to simulate theoretical energy spectra. The parameters used for simulations were matched to experiment to compare experimental and theoretical results. The tilted angle CZT detector suppressed the tailing of the spectrum and provided an increase in peak-to-total ratio from 38% at 90 degrees to 83% at 10 degrees tilt angle for 122 keV radiation. The corresponding increase for 59 keV radiation was from 60% at 90 degrees to 85% at 10 degrees tilt angle. The edge-on CZT detector provided high energy resolution when the beam thickness was much smaller than the thickness of CZT. The FWHM resolution in edge-on illumination mode was 4.2% for 122 keV beam with 0.3 mm thickness, and rapidly deteriorated when the thickness of the beam was increased. The energy resolution of surface-on geometry suffered from strong tailing effect at photon energies higher than 60 keV. It is concluded that tilted angle CZT provides high energy resolution but it is limited to a 1D linear array configuration. The surface-on CZT provides 2D pixel arrays but suffers from tailing effect and charge build up. The edge-on CZT is considered suboptimal as it requires small beam thickness and also suffers from charge buildup.