Oblique surface reconstruction to approximate cone-beam helical data in multi-slice CT

Multi-slice helical beam scanning involves cone-beam geometry. The primary advantages for use of divergent cone-beams include reduced data acquisition, improved image resolution and optimized photon utilization. Due to the complexity of 3-dimensional cone-beam reconstruction, approximate algorithms have been sought to handle the cone-beam reconstruction. This paper presents a new approximate algorithm termed as oblique surface reconstruction (OSR). Theoretical considerations as well as the reconstruction of simulated phantom data in comparison to the current standard 180 degrees LI are presented. OSR is shown to be effective and practical to generate images with diagnostic quality.