SBIR-STTR Award

With cone-beam CT's introduction in dentistry, dental clinicians could not only have profound knowledge of oral pathology but could also enhance the access to a detailed view of the underlying structures and their relations. Dental CBCT could be justified for presurgical diagnosis, preoperative planning and preoperative transfer for oral implant rehabilitation. The image quality of CBCT, however, is suboptimal and suffers from strong image artifacts stemming from excessive x-ray scattering, limited detector performance. Spatial resolution, the most important parameter objectively defining image quality, is insufficient for many dental applications where the fine details often have to be depicted. We will develop and validate a novel dental imaging system that not only fundamentally eliminates the image quality problems and but also can produce superior image resolution in 3D images. The super-resolution dual-energy Tetrahedron Beam CT (TBCT) employs a novel multi-pixel thermionic emission x-ray (MPTEX) source with wobbling focal spots as well as an energy-resolved photon-counting detector (PCD). TBCT scans the patient with a stack of fan beams that have a very low scatter-to-primary ratio (SPR); The PCD detector can count x-ray photons without electronics noises, thus can reduce radiation exposure and dental artifacts due to photon starvation; The dual-energy capacity of PCD further eliminates beam-hardening artifacts and supports material decomposition; The flying focal spots and Time-delay-integration (TDI) detection will compensate gantry motion, and super-resolution 3D images can be reconstructed with optics-model based iterative image reconstruction (IIR). Super-resolution dental TBCT will fit in the gap of high-performance 3D imaging in dentistry, allow further advancing the productivity and quality of care in dental practice. The following specific aims have been designed to accomplish this goal: Aim 1: Develop MPTEX source with variable focal spot size and location; Aim 2: To develop and validate a super-resolution dental TBCT benchtop imaging system. Public Health Relevance Statement NARRATIVE Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) technology provides three-dimensional image viewing, supports advanced procedures into the clinical workflow, but its image quality, especially spatial resolution, is insufficient for many applications. To address the deficiency of dental CT, we will develop a novel super- resolution tetrahedron beam CT (TBCT) with dual-energy capacity based on a distributed x-ray source with wobbling focus spots and time-delay-integration (TDI) photon-counting detector (PCD). It will overcome the problems of the current dental CBCT systems and produce superior image quality with unpreceded image resolution.

Project Terms:
Algorithms ; Anatomy ; Anatomic ; Anatomic Sites ; Anatomic structures ; Anatomical Sciences ; Animals ; Anodes ; Cadaver ; Dental Care ; Dental Procedure ; dental service ; Dental Clinics ; Dentistry ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Dental Education ; dentistry education ; Electronics ; electronic device ; Evaluation Studies ; Freezing ; Patient Care ; Patient Care Delivery ; Dental General Practice ; dental practice ; Goals ; image reconstruction ; image construction ; image generation ; Motion ; Noise ; Optics ; optical ; Oral Pathology ; Patients ; Play ; Productivity ; Rehabilitation therapy ; Medical Rehabilitation ; Rehabilitation ; rehab therapy ; rehabilitative ; rehabilitative therapy ; Research Personnel ; Investigators ; Researchers ; Role ; social role ; Rotation ; Starvation ; Technology ; Time ; Tissues ; Body Tissues ; X-Ray Computed Tomography ; CAT scan ; CT X Ray ; CT Xray ; CT imaging ; CT scan ; Computed Tomography ; Tomodensitometry ; X-Ray CAT Scan ; X-Ray Computerized Tomography ; Xray CAT scan ; Xray Computed Tomography ; Xray computerized tomography ; catscan ; computed axial tomography ; computer tomography ; computerized axial tomography ; computerized tomography ; Universities ; Diagnostic radiologic examination ; Conventional X-Ray ; Diagnostic Radiology ; Diagnostic X-Ray ; Diagnostic X-Ray Radiology ; Radiography ; Roentgenography ; X-Ray Imaging ; X-Ray Medical Imaging ; Xray imaging ; Xray medical imaging ; conventional Xray ; diagnostic Xray ; diagnostic Xray radiology ; Roentgen Rays ; X-Radiation ; X-Ray Radiation ; X-ray ; Xray ; Imaging Techniques ; Imaging Procedures ; Imaging Technics ; Morphologic artifacts ; Artifacts ; Outcomes Research ; Photons ; inferior alveolar nerve ; Computer-Assisted Manufacturing ; Computer-Aided Manufacturing ; Computer-Aided Design ; Computer-Assisted Design ; Tube ; base ; density ; detector ; improved ; Procedures ; Clinical ; Phase ; Lesion ; soft tissue ; Dental ; Saints ; Spottings ; Knowledge ; Immunes ; Immune ; Scanning ; Oral ; Source ; System ; 3-D ; 3D ; three dimensional ; 3-Dimensional ; Location ; Best Practice Analysis ; Benchmarking ; Inferior ; Operative Procedures ; Surgical ; Surgical Interventions ; Surgical Procedure ; surgery ; Operative Surgical Procedures ; interest ; Performance ; flying ; Flying body movement ; Structure ; novel ; Modeling ; QOC ; Quality of Care ; 3-D Imaging ; 3D imaging ; Three-Dimensional Imaging ; 3-D Images ; 3-D image ; 3D image ; 3D images ; Three-Dimensional Image ; image-based method ; imaging method ; imaging modality ; Effectiveness ; Address ; Detection ; Resolution ; research clinical testing ; Clinical Evaluation ; Clinical Testing ; clinical test ; Patient-Focused Outcomes ; Patient outcome ; Patient-Centered Outcomes ; Small Business Technology Transfer Research ; STTR ; point of care ; Image ; imaging ; cone-beam computed tomography ; cone-beam CT ; volume CT ; volume computed tomography ; volumetric computed tomography ; reconstruction ; Advanced Development ; design ; designing ; Outcome ; Imaging technology ; innovation ; innovate ; innovative ; Implant ; stem ; commercial application ; prototype ; Geometry ; photon-counting detector ; photon detection ; single photon detector ; imaging system ; Radiation exposure ; high resolution imaging ; clinical implementation ;