Effective atomic number accuracy for kidney stone characterization using spectral CT

Abstract

The clinical application of Gemstone Spectral Imaging^TM, a fast kV switching dual energy acquisition, is explored in the context of noninvasive kidney stone characterization. Utilizing projection-based material decomposition, effective atomic number and monochromatic images are generated for kidney stone characterization. Analytical and experimental measurements are reported and contrasted. Phantoms were constructed using stone specimens extracted from patients. This allowed for imaging of the different stone types under similar conditions. The stone specimens comprised of Uric Acid, Cystine, Struvite and Calcium-based compositions. Collectively, these stone types span an effective atomic number range of approximately 7 to 14. While Uric Acid and Calcium based stones are generally distinguishable in conventional CT, stone compositions like Cystine and Struvite are difficult to distinguish resulting in treatment uncertainty. Experimental phantom measurements, made under increasingly complex imaging conditions, illustrate the impact of various factors on measurement accuracy. Preliminary clinical studies are reported.