Pixel summing scheme and methods for material decomposition calibration in a full size photon counting computed tomography system

1. A method for calibrating a response of a photon counting detector (PCD) for material decomposition in a photon counting computed tomography (CT) system, the method comprising:

(1) performing, at a sub-pixel pattern of the PCD, a plurality of low flux scans comprising an air scan and scans using a plurality of slabs of different materials, at an initial current intensity and at plural tube voltage settings of an X-ray tube, for each scan, to obtain counts for each energy bin, and combining the obtained counts for the sub-pixel pattern;

(2) performing a basis material decomposition in object/patient scans to estimate the basis material based on the combined obtained counts of the sub-pixel pattern of (1).

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the combining comprises summing performed over the entire sub-pixel pattern.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the combining comprises summing performed over a row direction or a channel direction of the sub-pixel pattern.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising estimating first parameters, which are dependent on energy, based on the combined obtained counts.

5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising estimating second parameters which are dependent on total counts of all energy bins, based on the estimated first parameters.

6. The method according to the claim 5 , further comprising:

repeating, using each of the plurality of slabs, (1), estimating the first parameters, and estimating the second parameters for different current intensities other than the initial current intensity and at the same tube voltage to obtain the second parameters, respectively, for the different current intensities.

7. The method according to the claim 6 , further comprising:

assessing image quality of a projection image by performing a phantom scan using the first parameters and the second parameters and if the quality of the projection image satisfies predefined standards, the first parameters and the second parameters are used for the basis material decomposition in object/patient scans to estimate the basis material.

8. The method according to the claim 6 , wherein an initial guess of the first parameters is based on detector response function and low and high energy threshold of each counting bin, respectively.

9. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the first parameters depend on a bin response function.

10. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the second parameters are related to pileup correction terms.

11. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:

(3) repeating, using each of the plurality of slabs, (1) for different current intensities other than the initial current intensity and at the same tube voltage, to obtain a universal table of estimated second parameters which are dependent on total counts of all energy bins based on the first parameters, in the entire current intensity range;

(4) performing a basis material decomposition in object/patient scans to estimate the basis material based on the first and the second parameters for combined counts of the sub-pixel pattern of (1).

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein

the combining comprises summing performed over the entire sub-pixel pattern.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein

the combining comprises summing performed over a row direction or a channel direction of the sub-pixel pattern.

14. The method according to the claim 11 , further comprising:

assessing image quality of a projection image by performing a phantom scan using the first parameters and the second parameters and if the quality of the projection image satisfies predefined standards, the first parameters and the second parameters are used for the material decomposition in object/patient scans to estimate the basis material.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the combining comprises averaging over an entire sub-pixel pattern and applying a normalization factor, based on an estimate of anti-scatter grid (ASG) shadow on the sub-pixel pattern, on the averaged counts.

16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the combining comprises averaging over a row direction or a channel direction of a sub-pixel pattern and applying a normalization factor, based on an estimate of anti-scatter grid (ASG) shadow on the sub-pixel pattern, on the averaged counts.

17. A photon counting computed tomography apparatus comprising:

a photon counting detector comprising a plurality of macro pixels, each macro-pixel including a plurality of micro pixels; and

processing circuitry configured to:

acquire calibration data based on the micro pixels,

generate combined calibration data which corresponds to spatial resolutions based on the obtained calibration data based on the micro pixels, the generated combined calibration data transformed to digital data, and

calibrate a detector response of the photon counting detector in response to the spatial resolutions based on the generated combined calibration data.

18. The photon counting computed tomography apparatus according to claim 17 , wherein

the combined calibration data is generated by summing or averaging the calibration data based on the micro pixels.

19. The photon counting computed tomography apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein

the summing or averaging is performed over the entire macro pixel.

20. The photon counting computed tomography apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein

the summing or averaging is performed over a row direction or a channel direction of the macro pixel.