Fan-Beam X-ray Fluorescence Computed Tomography (XFCT) With Gold Nanoparticles

摘要

X-ray fluorescence computed tomography (XFCT) is a promising imaging modality. It calculates the spatial distribution and concentration of various elements by detecting the fluorescent signals excited by incident x-rays. XFCT has a promising future in the fields like molecular imaging in fundamental studies, drug development and clinical experiments. XFCT was used to be performed on synchrotron radiation source. However, the synchrotron radiation facility is not available for most researchers. So people are exploring the feasibility of performing XFCT imaging using benchtop X-ray tube under a typical laboratory setting. In this paper, we demonstrated a simulation study of a fan-beam XFCT. We use the SpekCalc software to simulate the polychromatic source and a phantom composed of PMMA and four gold nanoparticles solver with different concentrations is imaged. Linear photon counting detector arrays are used to detect the fluorescent signals. ML-EM algorithm is used to reconstruct the image. Specific scattering correction and attenuation correction methods are also proposed to improve the quality of reconstructed images.