Integration of high velocity test object motion into a channelized Hotelling observer for the assessment of x-ray angiography systems.

Assessment of x-ray angiography system performance is typically performed using stationary test objects with simple geometries such as a disk on a uniform background. However, these methods do not represent realistic imaging conditions in interventional cardiology as anatomy and devices are inherently non-stationary due to cardiac motion. In this work, a novel implementation of the channelized Hotelling observer (CHO) was used to assess the influence of motion blur on object detectability. A standard CHO model assumes imaging system stationarity whereby the detectability index [Formula: see text] of a test object is independent of location. However, real angiography systems are inherently non-stationary. While vendor correction gain factors and offset maps are used to compensate for visual non-uniformities, these corrections do not restore stationarity to the images. Methods to accommodate non-stationarity and allow assessment of the influence of motion blur on test object detectability will be presented. The effect of motion blur was quantified with the relative detectability index ([Formula: see text]), where the [Formula: see text] for an object when moving with constant linear velocity was compared to a low velocity 'pseudo-stationary' condition to account for system non-stationarity. The pseudo-stationary condition was used to isolate the influences of spatial non-stationarity and motion blur. Three different test object shapes (disks, spheres and capsules) with linear velocity in the range 0-30 cm · s were tested. For 1 mm diameter objects and linear velocity 30 cm · s, [Formula: see text] was degraded by 37%, 33% and 42% for the disk, sphere and capsule respectively, relative to the pseudo-stationary condition. Considering all test objects with diameter greater than 2 mm and linear velocity 30 cm · s, [Formula: see text] was degraded by less than 10% due to motion. In summary, this work describes a new approach to assess performance of x-ray angiography systems using the CHO model and moving test objects.