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CT Registry Review
Physics
35
Health Care
Professional
08/02/2010

Additional Health Care Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
3 goals of CT
Definition

1. overcome superimposition of structures.

2. Improve contrast fo the image.

3. Record very small differences in tissue contras.

Term
Limitations of CT
Definition

1. Poorer spatial resolution

2. Generally higher radiation

3. Usually axial images only

4. Artifacts from metallic objects and bone surrounding soft tissue.

Term
3 major parts of CT System
Definition

1. gantry assembly and room components

2. Computer

3. Console

 

 

Term
2 Types of Tubes
Definition

1. Stationary Anode(early scanners)

oil cooled, large focal spot

2. Rotating Anode-

Can accomodate continuous or pulsed beam.  Air cooled. 3600-10,000 RPM's.

small focal spot(increased resolution) reduced noise. made of rhenium, tungsten, molybdenum.

 

 

Term
4 Qualities of a Detector:
Definition

1.  Efficiency-how well detector is able to detect photons.

2.  Capture Efficiency-how well detectors obtain photons.

3.  Conversion Efficiency-% of photons incident on the detector that result into a detected signal.

4. Stability-detector steadiness, in not stable will require frequent calibrations.

Term
2 Types of Detectors
Definition

1. Solid State(Scintillation)-Crystals coupled to a photo multiplier tube that converts light to electrons.  Excellent efficiency because it can detect photons from all angles.  Made of Calcium fluoride and Bismuth germanate now.

2. Gas Detectors-ionization chambers that use xenon gas.  Generate electrical impulse in response to a collision between a photon and a xenon atom.

 

Term
2 Types of Collimators
Definition

1. Pre-Patient-design influenced by focal spot size.  mounted on tube housing. creates more parallel beam. reduces patient dose.

2. Pre-Detector-restricts field viewed by detector(shapes beam). reduces scatter to detector. aperture width helps determine slice thickness.

Term
2 Purposes for Filtration
Definition

1. Absorb low-energy x-rays(soft radiation) that do not contribute to the acquisition of CT image.  Pt dose reduced and beam quality increases.

2.  Shape the energy distribution across the radiation beam to produce uniform beam hardening.

Term
Methods of Image Reconstruction
Definition

1. Back Projection-simplest and oldest.

2. Iterative Method

3. Analytic Reconstruction Alogorithms

a. Filtered Back Projection

b. Fourier Reconstruction

Term
Back Projection
Definition

known as the Summation or linear method.does not produce a sharp image so not used in clinical CT.

produces a "classical star pattern" artifact

Term
Iterative Method Reconstruction
Definition
Assumes all points in a matrix have the same value.  Patient motion and quantum noise make it difficult to obtain accurately measured ray sums.  Not used in commercial CT because procedure takes too long to generate an image and needs many projections.
Term
Filtered Back Projection
Definition

An Analytic Recon Method.

Uses filters to remove star pattern artifact

Term
Fourier Reconstruction
Definition
Analytic Recon Alogorithms- Uses the Fourier Transfromation to convert a signal in the spacial domain into the frequency domain.  while in frequency domain the image can be manipulated by changing the amplitudes. transformed back into the spatial domain by inverse fourier transormation.
Term
The Computer Process
Definition

1. receives signal in analog form to be converted to a binary digit.

2. done by an analog to digital convertor.

3. stores digital signal during scan and reconstructs the image after scan.

4. data can be manipulated to reconstruct in various plans.

5. each picture is displayed on a single matrix.

Term
Suppression
Definition
Permits a problem area to be outlined then deleted.
Term
Histograms
Definition
Bar graphs to show Hounsfield numbers between 2 points. requires special software.
Term
Scan Field of View(SFOV)
Definition
# of detectors to be used. determined by pt size and part to be scanned. smaller gives better resolution and is faster.
Term
Display Field of View(DCOV)
Definition
true magnification is obtained by having it smaller. Less tissue per voxel. Higher resolution. larger image of a smaller area.
Term
Window Level
Definition

Brightness of image.  The mid-point or Center of the range of CT #'s displayed.  Used to change overall density(brightness).

set to correspond to the part involved. 35-70 for abdomen. -700 for lung.  higher-darker image

lower-lighter image

Term
Window Widths
Definition
Gray Scale.  Top is white. all numbers above this will be white. Bottom is Black. all numbers below this will be black.  Small gives more contrast(less gray) large gives less contrast(more gray)
Term
Formula For Range of CT Numbers Displayed
Definition

R= L (+ and -) W/2

R= Range

L= Level

W = Window

Term
Formula for Pixel Size
Definition
Pixel Size= FOV/Matrix Size
Term
5 Factors that Affect Image Quality
Definition

1. Spatial Resolution

2. Contrast Resolution

3. Noise and Spacial Uniformity

4. Linearity

5. Image Artifacts

Term
Spatial Resolution
Definition
Affects image quality.  Used to exprss degree of blurring present. Ability to see a small dense object in a field of a different density.  Influenced by collimation, detector size, pixel size, and focal spot size. 
Term
Contrast Resolution
Definition
Ability to demonstrate small changes in tissue contrast of large objects. Better in CT than conventional x-ray.  able to show as small a difference as 4% in CT only 10% in x-ray.  limited by noise
Term
Noise and Spatial Uniformity
Definition
Variations in CT #'s about an aberage value in uniform tissue.  A mottled appearance or textrued look.  Caused by lack of photons passing through tissue.
Term
Quantum Noise
Definition
Results from limited photons contributing to image
Term
Electronic Noise
Definition
Occurs due to electrical interference w/i the many electronic components of the System
Term
Comutational Noise
Definition
approximations used in measurments in the averaging process
Term
Radiation Noise
Definition
Caused by scattered radiation
Term
Image Artifacts
Definition

1. Motion

2. Metal

3. Beam Hardening

4. Partial Volume Effect

5. Ring Artifacts

Term
Beam Hardening Artifact
Definition
Caused by the increase of the mean energy as it passes through an object.  Appears as broad dark bands or streaks.  Known as cupping artifacts. Affected by variation of kVp, tissue density, tissue thickness.
Term
Slice Thickness
Definition
affects detail because of the effect on volume averaging.  Changing from 10mm to 5 mm improves resolution.
Term
Thin Slices
Definition

Disadvantages-requires twice as many scans, twice the reon time, twice the filming time, more radiation to produce same quality image.

Advantages- provides superior detail for complex anatomy, decreases the volume averaging effect.

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