Effects of different virtual monoenergetic CT image data on chest wall post-processing "unfolded ribs" and proposal of an algorithm improvement

Florian Hagen, Rainer Grimmer, Hendrik Ditt, Lukas Walder, Robin Wrazidlo, Baumgartner Karolin, Johannes Hofmann, Arne Estler, Marius Horger

Abstract: To find out if the use of different virtual monoenergetic data sets enabled by DECT technology might have a negative impact on post-processing applications, specifically in case of the “unfolded ribs” algorithm. Metal or beam hardening artifacts are suspected to generate image artifacts and thus reduce diagnostic accuracy. This paper tries to find out how the generation of “unfolded rib” CT image reformates is influenced by different virtual monoenergetic CT images and looks for possible improvement of the post-processing tool.