Method and device for automatically differentiating bones or other calcium-containing materials and contrast agent in soft tissue

摘要

A method and a device are disclosed for automatically differentiating bones or other calcium-containing materials and contrast agent in soft tissue of an object area. In at least one embodiment of the method, two image data records of two computed tomography pictures of the object are provided that have been recorded in the context of a different spectral distribution of the X-radiation. For voxels of at least one interesting slice, there is calculated from the two image data records a ratio r that is yielded from measured or averaged X-ray attenuation values of the respective voxel or its environment in the context of the different spectral distributions of the X-radiation and prescribed X-ray attenuation values of soft tissue in the context of the different spectral distributions of the X-radiation according to a prescribed calculation rule. Upon overshooting of a threshold value for the ratio r the respective voxel is assigned either contrast agent or calcium-containing material as a function of the magnitude of r. At least one embodiment of the proposed method and/or the associated device enable a reliable automatic differentiation of bones or other calcium-containing materials and contrast agent in computed tomography pictures.