Effects of scatter in dual-energy imaging: an alternative analysis

Dual-energy imaging provides images in which the conspicuity of the signal of interest is heightened by selectively cancelling intervening structures. Area detectors for dual-energy imaging offer some advantages over line-scanning systems because they make efficient use of the source. Area detectors, however, collect scattered radiation. To determine the seriousness of the scatter problem and how effective scatter correction is at reducing scatter´s deleterious effects, dual-energy imaging in the presence of scatter is simulated. The coefficients are modified so that the intervening material and the scatter are cancelled in some particular region of the image. Results for simulations of two clinically important material-subtraction-the bone-subtraction image and the soft-tissue-subtraction image-are presented. The effects of scatter on contrast, noise variance, and SNR for the two subtractions are examined