On the properties of artificial neural network filters for bone-suppressed digital radiography

Dual-energy imaging can enhance lesion conspicuity. However, the conventional (fast kilovoltage switching) dual-shot dual-energy imaging is vulnerable to patient motion. The single-shot method requires a special design of detector system. Alternatively, single-shot bone-suppressed imaging is possible using post-image processing combined with a filter obtained from training an artificial neural network. In this study, the authors investigate the general properties of artificial neural network filters for bone-suppressed digital radiography. The filter properties are characterized in terms of various parameters such as the size of input vector, the number of hidden units, the learning rate, and so on. The preliminary result shows that the bone-suppressed image obtained from the filter, which is designed with 5,000 teaching images from a single radiograph, results in about 95% similarity with a commercial bone-enhanced image.