K-edge imaging

US8213566B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS ELECTRONICS NV · NL

Inventors

• Ewald Roessl · Ellerau, DE
• Roland Proksa · Hamburg, DE
• Jens-Peter Schlomka · Hamburg, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 22, 2009
• Grant date: Jul 3, 2012
• Expiry date: Jun 22, 2029

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A61B6/482
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An imaging system including a radiation source (110) that emits poly-chromatic radiation that traverses an examination region and a detector (116) that detects radiation traversing the examination region and produces a signal indicative of the energy of a detected photon. The system further includes an energy discriminator (122) that energy resolves the signal based on a plurality of different energy thresholds, wherein at least two of the energy thresholds have values corresponding to at least two different K-edge energies of two different elements in a mixture disposed in the examination region. The system also includes a signal decomposer (132) that decomposes the energy-resolved signal into at least a multi K-edge component representing the at least two different K-edge energies. In one instance, a stoichiometric ratio of the two different elements in the contrast agent is known and substantially constant.