An efficient 3D reconstruction method based on WT-TV denoising for low-dose CT images

BACKGROUND: In order to reduce the impact of CT radiation, low-dose CT is often used, but low-dose CT will bring more noise, affecting image quality and subsequent 3D reconstruction results. OBJECTIVE: The study presents a reconstruction method based on wavelet transform-total variation (WT-TV) for low-dose CT. METHODS: First, the low-dose CT images were denoised using WT and TV denoising methods. The WT method could preserve the features, and the TV method could preserve the edges and structures. Second, the two sets of denoised images were fused so that the features, edges, and structures could be preserved at the same time. Finally, FBP reconstruction was performed to obtain the final 3D reconstruction result. RESULTS: The results show that The WT-TV method can effectively denoise low-dose CT and improve the clarity and accuracy of 3D reconstruction models. CONCLUSION: Compared with other reconstruction methods, the proposed reconstruction method successfully addressed the issue of low-dose CT noising by further denoising the CT images before reconstruction. The denoising effect of low-dose CT images and the 3D reconstruction model were compared via experiments.