Method and apparatus for pre-processing cone beam projection data for exact three dimensional computer tomographic image reconstruction of a portion of an object

摘要

An improved method and apparatus for pre-processing cone beam attenuation data to reconstruct a three dimensional image of a particular region of interest of an object by a process of inverse Radon transformation is described. The number of required operations is substantially reduced by selectively retaining for further processing only that cone beam attenuation data acquired within a select closed region of the surface of the array detector wherein this region provides data corresponding to beams actually attenuated in passing through the region of interest of the object. In this manner, unnecessary beam attenuation data is discarded at the earliest possible opportunity to expedite image processing.