Evaluation of small animal imaging under different scan conditions

To evaluae small animal imaging with individual different high voltage, filter thickness and tube current, an animal X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) system based on panel detector is developed and a rat is scanned by using the system with individual high voltage, tube current, filter thickness, and exposure time. A model is presented based on the Monte Carlo code PENELOPE for generating the X-ray spectra of X-ray tube used in the micro-CT system. A platform developed based on Matlab allows for calculating beam quality parameters, including the average energy of X-ray beam, the change of transmition rate and the input X-ray fluence. The factors affecting the signal difference to noise ratio (SDNR) of micro-CT are investigated and the relationship between SDNR and scan combinations is analyzed. A series of tools and methods are developed for small animal imaging and imaging performance evaluation in the field of small animal imaging.