A novel algorithm for extracting soft-tissue and bone images measured using a photon-counting type X-ray imaging detector with the help of effective atomic number analysis

Highlights: • Construction of soft-tissue and bone images using photon counting technique. • Mass thickness and effective atomic number can be determined. • Correction for the beam hardening effect and detector response. • Our analysis can treat polychromatic X-rays as equivalent to monochromatic X-rays. • Comparison between our method and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Most of the objects targeted for X-ray examination are composed of soft-tissue and bone. We aimed to develop an algorithm for generating X-ray images which can give quantitative information of soft-tissue and bone using an energy-resolving photon-counting type imaging detector. We used polychromatic X-rays for analysis in which both the beam hardening effect and detector response were properly corrected and then succeeded in virtually treating the amount of measured X-ray attenuation as if it were measured using monochromatic X-rays.