On the Noise in Images Produced by Computed Tomography

Radiation passing through the human body is attenuated. The nature of the structures the radiation has passed through is indicated by the total attenuation of the radiation between its source and its point of detection. Computed tomography is a recent invention which has revolutionized diagnostic radiology. Computers are used to calculate the attenuation at individual points inside the body from a collection of total attenuations along a large number of lines (this process is called reconstruction) and to display the internal structures of the body based on this information. In this paper we discuss the nature of noise in images produced by computed tomography. Noise is taken in its most general sense: any deviation from the “true” image is considered noise. The physical sources of noise in computed tomography are considered and their effects on the images produced are illustrated. The mathematical relationship between noise in the data and noise in the reconstruction is given for a particularly popular reconstruction method. Techniques of noise suppression in computed tomography images are mentioned.

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