US-20260123899-A1 - PHOTON-COUNTING-BASED HYBRID FLAT PANEL DETECTOR, IMAGE DATA READING METHOD, AND MEDICAL IMAGING APPARATUS

Abstract

Disclosed is a photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector. The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector includes a photon-counting detection module having a first radiation detection surface, and two energy-integrating detection modules each having a second radiation detection surface. The first radiation detection surface extends in a strip shape along a first direction, and the second radiation detection surfaces are planar. The two energy-integrating detection modules are arranged on two opposite sides of the photon-counting detection module, such that the second radiation detection surfaces are arranged on two opposite sides of the first radiation detection surface in a second direction. The first radiation detection surface and the second radiation detection surfaces jointly form a radiation detection surface of the photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector. Also disclosed are a medical imaging apparatus and an image data reading method.

Inventors

• Jun Xiang
• Canzhen MA
• Jianqing Sun
• Hui Yin

Assignees

• SHANGHAI UNITED IMAGING HEALTHCARE CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20251222

Priority Date

20230621

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector, comprising: a photon-counting detection module having a first radiation detection surface, wherein the first radiation detection surface extends in a strip shape along a first direction; and two energy-integrating detection modules each having a planar second radiation detection surface; wherein the two energy-integrating detection modules are arranged on opposite two sides of the photon-counting detection module along a second direction, respectively, so that the second radiation detection surfaces are provided on the opposite two sides of the first radiation detection surface along the second direction, respectively, the second direction being parallel to the first radiation detection surface and perpendicular to the first direction; and the first radiation detection surface and the second radiation detection surfaces jointly form a radiation detection surface of the hybrid flat panel detector.
2. 2 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 1 , wherein the first radiation detection surface is located at a central position of the radiation detection surface of the photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector along the second direction.
3. 3 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 1 , wherein the first radiation detection surface penetrates the radiation detection surface of the photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector along the first direction.
4. 4 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 1 , wherein the first radiation detection surface is coplanar with the second radiation detection surface of each of the two energy-integrating detection modules.
5. 5 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 1 , wherein the second radiation detection surface of one of the two energy-integrating detection modules is coplanar with the second radiation detection surface of the other one of the two energy-integrating detection modules, and is non-coplanar with the first radiation detection surface.
6. 6 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 5 , wherein an edge of the second radiation detection surface close to the first radiation detection surface is arc-shaped.
7. 7 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 1 , wherein the photon-counting detection module comprises a main photon detection circuit and at least one photon-counting detection unit, the photon-counting detection unit is electrically connected to the main photon detection circuit, and the photon-counting detection unit has a reference photon-counting detection surface.
8. 8 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one photon-counting detection unit comprises a plurality of photon-counting detection units arranged in at least one row, each of the plurality of photon-counting detection units has a reference photon-counting detection surface, and all the reference photon-counting detection surfaces are coplanar to form the first radiation detection surface.
9. 9 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 8 , wherein the plurality of photon-counting detection units are arranged along the first direction.
10. 10 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 7 , wherein the photon-counting detection unit comprises: a photoelectric conversion substrate, an end surface thereof being configured as the reference photon-counting detection surface; an electrical signal acquisition substrate, electrically connected to the photoelectric conversion substrate; and a photon-counting detection circuit, electrically connected to the electrical signal acquisition substrate and the main photon detection circuit.
11. 11 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 1 , wherein each of the two energy-integrating detection modules comprises an energy-integrating substrate and an energy-integrating detection circuit electrically connected to the energy-integrating substrate, and an end surface of the energy-integrating substrate is configured as the second radiation detection surface.
12. 12 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 4 , wherein the first radiation detection surface of the photon-counting detection module and the second radiation detection surfaces of the two energy-integrating detection modules are spliced together to form the radiation detection surface of the photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector.
13. 13 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 12 , wherein each of the first radiation detection surface and the second radiation detection surfaces has a pixel array, and each pixel array comprises a plurality of uniformly arranged pixels; for the adjacent first radiation detection surface and second radiation detection surface, a splicing gap along the second direction between a column of pixels of the first radiation detection surface closest to the second radiation detection surface and a column of pixels of the second radiation detection surface closest to the first radiation detection surface is less than or equal to a size of two pixels.
14. 14 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 13 , wherein the splicing gap is equal to a size of one pixel.
15. 15 . The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 1 , wherein an area of each of the second radiation detection surfaces is larger than that of the first radiation detection surface.
16. 16 . An image data reading method, applied to the photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 1 , wherein the first radiation detection surface comprises a plurality of reference photon-counting detection surfaces arranged in sequence along the first direction, the two energy-integrating detection modules comprise a first energy-integrating detection module and a second energy-integrating detection module, and each of the second radiation detection surfaces comprises a plurality of rows of reference energy-integrating detection surfaces arranged in sequence along the second direction, wherein the image data reading method comprises: reading image data of the first energy-integrating detection module, the photon-counting detection module, and the second energy-integrating detection module in sequence along the second direction; or reading the image data of the first energy-integrating detection module, the photon-counting detection module, and the second energy-integrating detection module synchronously.
17. 17 . The image data reading method according to claim 16 , wherein reading the image data of the photon-counting detection module comprises: reading the image data of the photon-counting detection module in a first data reading mode, wherein the first data reading mode is configured to read the image data of the reference photon-counting detection surfaces in sequence along the first direction.
18. 18 . The image data reading method according to claim 16 , wherein reading the image data of the first energy-integrating detection module, the photon-counting detection module, and the second energy-integrating detection module in sequence along the second direction comprises: reading the image data of the first energy-integrating detection module in a second data reading mode; and reading the image data of the second energy-integrating detection module in a third data reading mode; wherein the second data reading mode is configured to read the image data of the reference energy-integrating detection surfaces in the energy-integrating detection module row by row in a direction along the second direction and close to the photon-counting detection module; wherein the third data reading mode is configured to read the image data of the reference energy-integrating detection surfaces in the energy-integrating detection module row by row in a direction along the second direction and away from the photon-counting detection module.
19. 19 . A medical imaging apparatus, comprising: a C-shaped arm, having opposite two ends; a radiation source, disposed on one of the two ends of the C-shaped arm; a collimator, disposed on the radiation source to limit radiation emitted by the radiation source to a beam of a predetermined shape; and the photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector according to claim 1 , disposed on the other end of the two ends of the C-shaped arm, wherein the first radiation detection surface and the second radiation detection surfaces face the radiation source to receive the beam.
20. 20 . The medical imaging apparatus according to claim 19 , wherein the collimator is configured to limit radiation emitted by the radiation source to a fan beam, the first radiation detection surface of the photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector is configured to receive the radiation of the fan beam, and an extending direction of the first radiation detection surface is parallel to the fan beam.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is a continuation-in-part application of international patent application No. PCT/CN2024/100774, filed on Jun. 21, 2024, which claims priority to Chinese patent application No. 202310750080.1, filed on Jun. 21, 2023. The contents of the above identified applications are hereby incorporated herein in their entireties by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to the technical field of medical imaging apparatus, and in particular, to a photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector, an image data reading method, and a medical imaging apparatus. BACKGROUND As a solid-state X-ray digital radiography device, a Flat Panel Detector (FPD) is often used in the medical field, such as in Digital Radiography (DR) systems, Full-Field Digital Mammography (FFDM) systems, Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) systems, and the like. Traditional FPDs include energy-integrating flat panel detectors, hereinafter referred to as Energy Integrating Detectors (EIDs). Due to the advantages of a simple manufacturing process, a low cost, and a large field of view, EIDs are widely used in medical imaging systems (such as X-ray imaging) and can perform real-time planar radiography, such as fluoroscopy, digital subtraction angiography, or cone-beam CT, to facilitate better formulation of treatment plans, monitoring, and evaluation. However, EIDs cannot provide a reliable capability to resolve low-contrast anatomical features required for detecting low-contrast lesions. EIDs also lack high-resolution capability for visualizing fine structures such as stent kinks and narrowing, as well as the spectral and quantitative imaging capabilities that are highly needed by doctors. The main reasons lie in the flaws in the detection principle of EID hardware. For example, the analog-to-digital converters have a low number of quantization bits, scintillator materials have afterglow and related hysteresis effects, the charge mobility in the amorphous silicon-based thin-film transistor array is poor, and pixel design related to these factors. Semiconductor-based Photon Counting Detectors (PCDs) have multiple advantages over EIDs. These advantages include, but are not limited to, the following: the energy threshold of PCDs can almost eliminate electronic noise, the detector hysteresis effect of PCDs is negligible, and PCDs can achieve low-contrast resolution through favorable X-ray photon energy weighting. Compared with the pixel binning required in EID data acquisition with scintillators, PCDs have higher spatial resolution. PCDs can obtain multi-energy-level spectral information. Nevertheless, PCDs are costly, and the cost increases linearly with the increase in the X-ray sensing area. The high-cost solution of adopting photon-counting detection technology for the entire panel hinders clinical promotion and application. Large-area PCDs have uneven responses. In low-contrast scenarios, X-ray scattering has a non-negligible negative impact on the images captured by large-area PCDs. SUMMARY In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector is provided. The photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector includes a photon-counting detection module and two energy-integrating detection modules. The photon-counting detection module has a first radiation detection surface. The first radiation detection surface extends in a strip shape along a first direction. Each of the two energy-integrating detection modules has a planar second radiation detection surface. The two energy-integrating detection modules are arranged on opposite two sides of the photon-counting detection module along a second direction, so that the second radiation detection surfaces are provided on the opposite two sides of the first radiation detection surface along the second direction. The second direction is parallel to the first radiation detection surface and perpendicular to the first direction. The first radiation detection surface and the second radiation detection surfaces jointly form the radiation detection surface of the photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector. In the first aspect, the first radiation detection surface is located at a central position of a radiation detection surface of the photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector along the second direction. In the first aspect, the first radiation detection surface penetrates the radiation detection surface of the photon-counting-based hybrid flat panel detector along the first direction. In the first aspect, the first radiation detection surface is coplanar with the second radiation detection surface of each of the two energy-integrating detection modules. In the first aspect, the second radiation detection surface of one of the two energy-integrating detection modules is coplanar with the second radiation detection surface of the other one of the two energy-integrating detection mo