Influence of Tomographic Parameters on the Image Quality of Digital X-ray Tomosynthesis

In this study, by using the MATLAB® 7.0 program, we investigated the fundamental principle of digital X-ray tomosynthesis (DTS) and, furthermore, the influence of tomographic parameters associated with the acquisition and reconstruction processes for the isocenter motion, including the tomographic angle (θ) and the angle increment between each projection (Δθ) on the reconstructed images. A proper compensation for the ununiform magnification for the isocenter motion was made in the tomographic algorithm to remove the geometrical distortion in the acquired projections. A simple tomographic algorithm, the so-called the modified shift-and-add (MSAA), was also studied in order to reduce effectively the blurring artifact that occurs typically in the conventional reconstruction algorithm of SAA. We expect that the simulation results we obtained in this study will be useful for the optimal design of a digital X-ray tomosynthesis system for our ongoing application of nondestruction testings.