Compressed-sensing (CS)-based 3D image reconstruction in cone-beam CT (CBCT) for low-dose, high-quality dental X-ray imaging

The most popular reconstruction algorithm for cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is based on the computationally-inexpensive filtered-backprojection (FBP) method. However, that method usually requires dense projections over the Nyquist samplings, which imposes severe restrictions on the imaging doses. Moreover, the algorithm tends to produce cone-beam artifacts as the cone angle is increased. Several variants of the FBP-based algorithm have been developed to overcome these difficulties, but problems with the cone-beam reconstruction still remain. In this study, we considered a compressed-sensing (CS)-based reconstruction algorithm for low-dose, high-quality dental CBCT images that exploited the sparsity of images with substantially high accuracy. We implemented the algorithm and performed systematic simulation works to investigate the imaging characteristics. CBCT images of high quality were successfully reconstructed by using the built-in CS-based algorithm, and the image qualities were evaluated quantitatively in terms of the universal-quality index (UQI) and the slice-profile quality index (SPQI).We expect the reconstruction algorithm developed in the work to be applicable to current dental CBCT systems, to reduce imaging doses, and to improve the image quality further.