Evaluation of a new reconstruction algorithm for x-ray phase-contrast imaging

Abstract

X-ray grating-based phase-contrast imaging might open up entirely new opportunities in medical imaging. However, transferring the interferometer technique from laboratory setups to conventional imaging systems the necessary rigidity of the system is difficult to achieve. Therefore, vibrations or distortions of the system lead to inaccuracies within the phase-stepping procedure. Given insufficient stability of the phase-step positions, up to now, artifacts in phase-contrast images occur, which lower the image quality. This is a problem with regard to the intended use of phase-contrast imaging in clinical routine as for example tiny structures of the human anatomy cannot be observed. In this contribution we evaluate an algorithm proposed by Vargas et.al.1 and applied to X-ray imaging by Pelzer et.al. that enables us to reconstruct a differential phase-contrast image without the knowledge of the specific phase-step positions. This method was tested in comparison to the standard reconstruction by Fourier analysis. The quality of phase-contrast images remains stable, even if the phase-step positions are completely unknown and not uniformly distributed. To also achieve attenuation and dark-field images the proposed algorithm has been combined with a further algorithm of Vargas et al.3 Using this algorithm, the phase-step positions can be reconstructed. With the help of the proper phase-step positions it is possible to get information about the phase, the amplitude and the offset of the measured data. We evaluated this algorithm concerning the measurement of thick objects which show a high absorbency.