Material analysis through X-ray attenuation decomposition in spectral computed tomography

Conventional Computed Tomography (CCT) measures the total x-ray attenuation for a whole x-ray spectrum, which can be used for medical diagnosis of anatomically visible pathologies. Spectral Computed Tomography (SCT) is an extension of CCT and enables the separation of two distinct processes of x-ray attenuation in tissues. The combined pair of attenuation contributions is material-specific, enabling rapid quantification of in vivo tissue composition. The combined, detailed knowledge about anatomy and pathological tissue composition allows for disease phenotyping, with great potential for improved medical diagnosis. In this paper we introduce X-Ray Attenuation Decomposition (XAD), to intuitively display and quantify the material contents of biological tissues and integrate it into the conventional, anatomical visualization of CT images. XAD gives an interactive display of material contents superimposed on anatomical information, making it easy to identify both the anatomical location as well as the concentrations of specific materials.