CT Videography Using an Optical Computer for Image Reconstruction

Abstract

Recent advances in the technology of data acquisition for Computed Tomography have made real-time acquisition a reality. Cardiac motion can now be essentially frozen. Real-time reconstruction is not currently available and so present systems act much like a movie camera (real-time acquisition followed by a relatively long reconstruction period and finally retrospective viewing). When coupled to a reconstruction system capable of real-time reconstruction of the motion image, CT videography becomes possible. This talk will present an optical computer capable of reconstructing an image in a video frame time (30 ms). The system implements the filtered back-projection algorithm using an acousto-optic convolver and an incoherent optical back-projector. System architecture and performance will be discussed. A comparison and discussion of other technologies for real-time reconstruction will also be presented.