Processing metal artifact in CT image

1. A method for processing metal artifacts in a Computed Tomography (CT) image, the method comprising:

extracting a metal image from an original image;

performing a first metal artifact processing on the original image to obtain a first processed image COR1, wherein the original image is a reconstructed CT image based on scan data obtained by CT scanning a subject, and wherein the original image contains metal artifacts, and in the process of the first metal artifact processing, the scan data involving the metal artifacts is corrected based on a metal range in which a metal object is contained, wherein the metal range is determined by performing an orthographic projection on the metal image extracted from the original image;

extracting the high frequency portion of the first processed image COR1 to obtain a first high-frequency image COR1HF;

performing a second metal artifact processing on the original image to obtain a second processed image COR2, wherein in the second metal artifact processing, the metal artifacts are removed without affecting the tissue information of the subject;

extracting the high frequency portion of the second processed image COR2 to obtain a second high-frequency image COR2HF;

obtaining a weighting function W based on the metal image; and

performing a weighted combination for the first processed image COR1, the first high-frequency image COR1HF and the second high-frequency image COR2HF by using the weighting function W to obtain a result image CORImp;

wherein the weighted combination is performed according to the following equation: CORImp=COR1+(COR2HF−COR1HF)*W.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal artifacts include hardening artifacts and the second metal artifact processing comprises:

applying a hardening correction to the original image to reduce the hardening artifacts in the original image and to obtain the second processed image COR2.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the hardening correction comprises:

smoothing filtering the original image to obtain an Ori-Smo image;

smoothing filtering the first processed image COR1 to obtain a COR1-Smo image;

calculating the difference between the Ori-Smo image and the COR1-Smo image to obtain an image HardenArti containing hardening artifacts; and

calculating the difference between the original image and the image HardenArti to obtain the second processed image COR2.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal artifacts include strip artifacts and hardening artifacts and the second metal artifact processing comprises:

pre-processing scan data corresponding to the original image to reduce the strip artifacts in the original image and to obtain an Ori-Air image; and

applying a hardening correction to the Ori-Air image to reduce the hardening artifacts in the Ori-Air image and to obtain the second processed image COR2.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the hardening correction comprises:

smoothing filtering the Ori-Air image to obtain an Ori-Air-Smo image;

smoothing filtering the first processed image COR1 to obtain a COR1-Smo image;

calculating the difference between the Ori-Air-Smo image and the COR1-Smo image to obtain an image HardenArti containing only hardening artifacts; and

calculating the difference between the Ori-Air image and the image HardenArti to obtain the second processed image COR2.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining a weighting function W based on the metal image comprises:

applying low-pass filtering to the metal image to obtain a low-frequency metal image; and

normalizing the low-frequency metal image to obtain the weighting function W.

7. A device for processing metal artifacts in a Computed Tomography (CT) image, the device comprising:

a processor which invokes machine readable instructions corresponding to a control logic for processing metal artifacts in a CT image stored on a storage medium and executes the machine readable instructions to:

extract a metal image from an original image;

perform a first metal artifact processing on the original image to obtain a first processed image COR1, wherein the original image is a reconstructed CT image based on scan data obtained by CT scanning a subject, and wherein the original image contains metal artifacts, and in the process of the first metal artifact processing, the scan data involving the metal artifacts is corrected based on a metal range in which a metal object is contained, wherein the metal range is determined by performing an orthographic projection on the metal image extracted from the original image;

extract the high frequency portion of the first processed image COR1 to obtain a first high-frequency image COR1HF;

perform a second metal artifact processing on the original image to obtain a second processed image COR2, wherein in the second metal artifact processing, the metal artifacts are removed without affecting the tissue information of the subject;

extract the high frequency portion of the second processed image COR2 to obtain a second high-frequency image COR2HF;

obtain a weighting function W based on the metal image; and

perform a weighted combination for the first processed image COR1, the first high-frequency image COR1HF and the second high-frequency image COR2HF by using the weighting function W to obtain a result image CORImp,

wherein the weighted combination is performed according to the following equation: CORImp=COR1+(COR2HF−COR1HF)*W.

8. The device according to claim 7 , wherein the metal artifacts include hardening artifacts and said machine readable instructions further cause the processor to:

apply a hardening correction to the original image to reduce the hardening artifacts in the original image and to obtain the second processed image COR2.

9. The device according to claim 8 , wherein said machine readable instructions further cause the processor to:

smoothing filter the original image to obtain an Ori-Smo image;

smoothing filter the first processed image COR1 to obtain a COR1-Smo image;

calculate the difference between the Ori-Smo image and the COR1-Smo image to obtain an image HardenArti containing hardening artifacts; and

calculate the difference between the original image and the image HardenArti to obtain the second processed image COR2.

10. The device according to claim 7 , wherein the metal artifacts include strip artifacts and hardening artifacts and said machine readable instructions further cause the processor to:

pre-process scan data corresponding to the original image to reduce the strip artifacts in the original image and to obtain an Ori-Air image; and

apply a hardening correction to the Ori-Air image to reduce the hardening artifacts in the Ori-Air image and to obtain the second processed image COR2.

11. The device according to claim 10 , wherein said machine readable instructions further cause the processor to:

smoothing filter the Ori-Air image to obtain an Ori-Air-Smo image;

smoothing filter the first processed image COR1 to obtain a COR1-Smo image;

calculate the difference between the Ori-Air-Smo image and the COR1-Smo image to obtain an image HardenArti containing hardening artifacts; and

calculate the difference between the Ori-Air image and the image HardenArti to obtain the second processed image COR2.

12. The device according to claim 7 , wherein said machine readable instructions further cause the processor to:

apply low-pass filtering to the metal image to obtain a low-frequency metal image; and

normalize the low-frequency metal image to obtain the weighting function W.