Degree
Master of Science
Program
Medical Biophysics
Supervisor
Dr. Ian Cunningham
Abstract
Urinary calculi is a common problem worldwide and is associated with substantial patient morbidity and healthcare costs. The choice of treatment is dependent on the composition of the stone. Currently that can only be determined once it has been removed which is too late to impact treatment decisions. Considerable investigation into the use of dual-energy CT (DECT) for determining stone composition has lead to mixed results. The varied results may be due to inherent sources of error and it is unclear whether the mixed results with DECT are due to CT artifacts or insufficient fundamental difference in the linear attenuation coefficient between stones of various compositions. This work will develop a fundamental model for dual-energy CT to determine the ability to differentiate between stones of uniform and mixed composition. The model will be tested experimentally to optimize the parameters and determine the appropriate clinical measurement to reflect the results.
Recommended Citation
Nykamp, Stephanie, "Dual energy imaging for determining urinary calculi composition: A theoretical and experimental study with computed tomography" (2014). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 2224.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/2224