Development of novel 2D, 3D and 4D imaging systems and novel image reconstruction techniques for their applications in radiation therapy and interventional radiology.

Research Highlights

• Unique dual-source X-ray imaging system developed in-house
• Novel phantoms and equipment developments to improve image quality
• Novel reconstruction technique development for under sampled imaging data
• Development of hardware acceleration using computer graphics card for image reconstruction
• Application of novel imaging techniques in image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) and interventional radiology

We developed a dual-source cone-beam CT (CBCT) imaging system for potential applications in IGRT and interventional radiology. Phantoms were developed for system calibration and artifact correction. Novel grid system was developed to correct for scatter artifacts in CBCT. Novel reconstruction techniques, including total variation based iterative method and prior information based method, were developed to drastically improve the image quality using sparsely sampled projection data. Hardware acceleration of the reconstruction using OpenGL and CUDA was implemented. Various applications of the developed techniques for CBCT, digital tomosynthesis (DTS), and 4D-CBCT are under investigation.
 

Current Projects

• Scatter correction for CBCT: Develop a synchronized moving grid (SMOG) system to remove scatter artifacts and enhance contrast-to-noise ratio for single or dual-source CBCT.
• Dual detector CBCT system characterization and correction: use phantom to calibrate and correct for geometrical errors of the system to improve image resolution and reduce artifacts.
• Dual energy imaging: Investigate the usage of dual energy imaging to improve the contrast and enhance visualization for different anatomical structures.
• Dual source DTS: Develop dual-angle DTS imaging techniques to obtain patient volumetric information with better efficiency and lower imaging dose than CBCT.
• Dual source 4D CBCT and 4D DTS: Develop 4D-CBCT and 4D-DTS using dual source system for localization of moving targets in IGRT.
• Prior information based image reconstruction techniques: Develop novel image reconstruction methods using prior information and deformation models to improve the image quality for under sampled data such as 4D-CBCT and 4D-DTS.
• Dual source phase-matched CBCT and DTS: develop phase-matching techniques to minimize the effects of organ motion on localization accuracy for dual source CBCT and DTS. 

Please click here for a listing of publications for Dr. Yin.

Radiation Physics Division
Department of Radiation Oncology
Box 3295, DUMC
Durham, NC  27710