Abstract
Abstract
The use of photon-counting detectors (PCD) in X-ray computed
tomography (CT) allows for obtaining specific spectral information
about the materials present in the studied object. This provides the
capability to detect contrast agents (CAs) based on elements with
high atomic numbers, which opens up significant prospects for
diagnostics and preclinical trials. This work presents a criterion
for the extraction of a contrast agent and the determination of its
concentration based on the K-edge absorption. The criterion is built
on the study of the spectral characteristics of CAs. It considers
scenarios where more than two contrast agents are simultaneously
used in a wide range of concentrations in the study. The experiment
was conducted using a laboratory microtomographic system based on
the Medipix3RX detector family. The criterion utilizes five energy
thresholds for the identification of a single contrast
agent. Lanthanides were used as contrast agents.