A full-system simulation chain for computed tomography scanners

Image quality and dose reduction are fields of continuous research and development in Clinical Computed Tomography. This requires screening new approaches such as innovative detector technologies, spectral filtering, data compression or novel CT algorithms. Resulting image quality properties like sharpness, image noise, homogeneity and image artifacts need to be assessed and compared to state-of-the-art solutions. We present a chain of spectral simulation tools covering full CT-systems with X-ray source, filtering, patient or phantom interaction, energy integrating or quantum counting detectors, data processing and CT image reconstruction. Modelling of the relevant physics processes is described in detail for each of the stages involved. We present CT images from simulated scans. A quantitative analysis shows excellent agreement with data from a real CT scanner. Finally, we outline a technology comparison study as typical application example of the presented simulation tools.