CT Sinogram Enlargement from Anatomical Contour Templates

The patent applies preliminary action by using optical imaging data (photogrammetry or structured light scanning) to capture the external geometry of the patient's body part before the CT scan. This pre-acquired geometric information is then used to generate synthetic projection data that compensates for the truncated sinogram, allowing the reconstruction algorithm to fill in the missing measurements from surrounding tissues without requiring additional radiation exposure.

The patent introduces an intermediary approach by using optical surface geometry data as a mediator between the truncated CT measurements and the complete anatomical structure. The optical data serves as a bridge that provides information about the external contours and shape of surrounding tissues, which is then integrated into the reconstruction process to generate the missing sinogram data.

The patent uses preliminary optical imaging to capture the external geometry before reconstruction. This pre-acquired geometric information enables the generation of synthetic projection data that compensates for the truncated measurements, thereby preventing the formation of truncation artifacts in the final reconstructed image while maintaining minimized radiation exposure.

The patent applies preliminary anti-action by using the optical surface geometry data to pre-correct for the expected truncation effects before the actual CT reconstruction takes place. The synthetic projection data generated from optical measurements acts as a corrective element that counteracts the harmful artifact-forming truncation, allowing artifact-free reconstruction from limited-angle CT data.