基于锥形束X射线摄影的骨密度快速测量方法研究

Study on Rapid Measurement of Bone Mineral Density Based on Cone-beam X-ray Photography

  • 摘要: 本文提出了一种利用锥形束X射线摄影实现骨密度快速测量的方法。针对X射线球管工作的不同管电压,利用GEANT4模拟了软组织和骨骼在不同光子能谱下的点扩展函数,并通过点扩展函数实现对锥形束X射线摄影中散射信息的去除。通过开展实验,获得了X射线管电压为60 kVp、140 kVp时,利用X射线摄影进行骨密度测量的测量曲线。基于点扩展函数与测量曲线,提出了一套基于锥形束X射线摄影的快速骨密度测量方法。实验结果表明,对于0.5~1.5 g/cm2范围内的骨密度,本文提出的方法能实现较为准确的测量,在常见骨密度范围内,与铝块等效的骨密度标称值的相对偏差小于7%。本文研究结果可为临床上实现骨密度的快速测量及数字X射线摄影(DR)的更广泛应用提供参考。

     

    Abstract: At present, osteoporosis has become a common disease among the elderly. With the advent of an aging society, the impact of osteoporosis on the health of the population should not be underestimated. The commonly used diagnostic method of osteoporosis is bone mineral density measurement. At present, dual-energy X-ray bone densitometer (DEXA) is usually used for measurement. However, DEXA usually uses a pencil-beam X-ray for measurement. The coverage of the pencil-beam X-ray is small, so the measurement time of DEXA is long. In order to improve the speed of bone mineral density measurement, in this study, a method of rapid measurement of bone mineral density using cone-beam X-ray photography was proposed. Specifically, the GE OPTIMA XR646 HD digital radiography (DR) system was selected as the experimental equipment, and 60 kVp and 140 kVp was selected as the tube voltage for producing low-energy and high-energy X-ray. In view of the large amount of scattering information in cone-beam X-ray radiography, the point spread function of soft tissue and bone equivalent materials with a thickness of 2 to 8 cm under different photon energy spectra is simulated by using the Monte Carlo particle transport program GEANT4 for different tube voltages of the X-ray tube, and the scattering signal in cone-beam X-ray radiography is removed by the point spread function. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) was used to replace soft tissue, and aluminum blocks with thickness ranging from 4 to 12 mm were used to replace bone, forming an equivalent phantom of bone mineral density. The calibration experiment of bone mineral density measurement curve was carried out, and the quadratic/cubic measurement curve of bone mineral density measurement using cone beam X-ray radiography was obtained when the X-ray tube voltage was 60 kVp and 140 kVp. Based on the point spread function and the measurement curve, a fast bone mineral density measurement method based on cone beam X-ray radiography was proposed. The validation experiment conducted on PMMA and aluminum block shows that the method proposed in this study can achieve relatively accurate measurement within the common range of bone mineral density of 0.5-1.5 g/cm2, and the relative deviation between the measured value and the nominal value is less than 7%. This study preliminarily verifies the feasibility of the method of measuring bone mineral density using cone-beam X-ray photography, which can achieve the measurement of bone mineral density while taking the X-ray image of the femur, and expand the application scope of DR machine in clinical practice. The research results can provide reference for the rapid measurement of clinical bone mineral density and the wide application of DR.

     

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