PATIENT SPECIFIC PIXEL-BASED WEIGHTING FACTOR DUAL-ENERGY X-RAY IMAGING SYSTEM

Abstract

This thesis investigates the development and implementation of a novel patient specific pixel-based weighting factor algorithm for dual-energy x-ray imaging. The first chapter of this thesis is an introduction on the components of an x-ray imaging system, generation of spectra, imaging components, dual-energy, and radiotherapy. The second chapter is a manuscript submitted to the Medical Physics journal outlining the development of the algorithm and the generation of its dual-energy images. This chapter presents and discusses the improvements of dual-energy images generated by the novel algorithm in comparison to the conventional technique. This chapter also derives and validates the theoretical underlying analytical expressions by which various imaging parameters such as polyenergetic spectra, scatter, and detector response affect the weighting factor. The third and final chapter summarizes the accomplishments of the thesis goals and discusses various future avenues for further research.