Implementation and Applications of Virtual Imaging Trials in Computed Tomography

Abstract

Virtual imaging is a powerful tool that offers an alternative to clinical trials by simulating medical image acquisitions. Virtual trials allow for the generation of large data sets without the need for human subjects, and generated images can be compared to ground truth which is not known in clinical trials. The goal of this thesis is to build upon prior work in developments of virtual trials and utilize them for cardiac and abdominal CT imaging applications. In particular, integration tools were developed to enable automatic CT simulation for large scale trials. With these tools, a pilot study was conducted to investigate the effects of image acquisition parameters on cardiac CT quantifications, laying the groundwork for a comprehensive evaluation. Further, a virtual trial was performed to objectively evaluate photon-counting CT in terms of the image quality improvements and liver lesion detectability. This study provided valuable information about how photon-counting CT can be effectively implemented in the clinic. These studies demonstrated the viability of virtual trials for medical imaging research.