Comparative performance analysis for abdominal phantom ROI detectability according to CT reconstruction algorithm: ADMIRE

Purpose We compared and analyzed the detectability performance pertaining to an abdominal phantom including a region of interest (ROI) according to a computed tomography (CT) reconstruction algorithm. Methods Three types of reconstruction algorithms (FBP, SAFIRE, and ADMIRE) were used to evaluate the detectability performance using the abdominal phantom (phantom size: 25 x 18 x 28 cm(3)). The vendor default settings for routine multi-detector computed tomography abdominal scans were used. As the quantitative evaluation method, the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), difference in coefficient of variation (COV) with the normalization based on the FBP data, and the noise power spectrum (NPS) were measured. Results The characteristic of the ADMIRE-3 reconstructed image was higher than those of the FBP and SAFIRE-3 reconstructed images. The CNR values of the SAFIRE and ADMIRE images were much higher than the corresponding values of the FBP images. The difference in COV values for the ADMIRE images was similar to 1.2 times lower than the corresponding values of the SAFIRE images. Conclusion The comparative analysis of the abdominal phantom low-contrast resolution differences for each CT exposure parameters showed that ADMIRE demonstrated better results than SAFIRE and FBP in terms of contrast, CNR, COV difference, and 1D NPS. This indicates that ADMIRE can provide a clearer observation even with the same number of contrast objects as compared to SAFIRE and FBP owing to its better contrast resolution in the central part of the contrast hole at low kV.