{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,10]],"date-time":"2026-10-10T00:04:10Z","timestamp":1791590650603,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"IOP Publishing","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,8]],"date-time":"2026-04-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775606400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/publishingsupport.iopscience.iop.org\/iop-standard\/v1"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,8]],"date-time":"2026-04-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775606400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/info\/page\/text-and-data-mining"}],"funder":[{"name":"NIH","award":["P41EB028744"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P41EB028744"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["iopscience.iop.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Phys. Med. Biol."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,14]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    <jats:italic>Objective<\/jats:italic>\n                    . The performance of photon-counting CT (PCCT) depends on how detector energy thresholds or bins (collectively referred to as energy settings) are defined. This study aimed to identify optimal energy settings for various PCCT technologies to enhance spectral separability and spatial detectability of materials relevant to diagnostic imaging.\n                    <jats:italic>Approach<\/jats:italic>\n                    . We modeled vendor-neutral PCCT scanners with cadmium telluride (CdTe), cadmium zinc telluride (CZT), and silicon (Si) based detectors using an\n                    <jats:italic>in-silico<\/jats:italic>\n                    imaging framework. The scanner models incorporated scanner geometries and spatio-energetic detector responses to account for inter-pixel and inter-energy crosstalk and noise correlation. Using these models, we imaged two sizes of a cylindrical phantom containing inserts with various concentrations of calcium, iodine, and gadolinium across various energy settings and two dose levels. Other settings were held constant, including tube voltage (120 kV), pitch (1), gantry rotation speed (0.5 rot s\n                    <jats:sup>\u22121<\/jats:sup>\n                    ), and reconstruction settings. Image quality was quantified in terms of separability index (\n                    <jats:italic>s<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2032) and contrast-to-noise ratio. The scanner-specific optimal energy settings were determined by ranking the measured\n                    <jats:italic>s<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2032 values using a rank-sum method and evaluating them with the Friedman test.\n                    <jats:italic>Main results.<\/jats:italic>\n                    The optimal energy settings varied primarily with the phantom size and material pairs to separate (Ca-I, Ca-Gd, I-Gd) rather than the dose level. When aggregated across all imaging tasks and conditions, the optimal energy settings were 30\u201365 keV and 20\u201335\u201350\u201370 keV for two- and four-threshold CdTe-, 20\u201335\u201350\u201370 keV for four-threshold CZT-, and 5\u201335\u201350\u201380\u2013120 keV for four-bin Si-based PCCT systems. Optimization of energy settings significantly improved material decomposition accuracy for Ca, I, and Gd across PCCT systems, particularly under low-concentration conditions, reducing percent differences from as high as 422.0% to within 17.0%.\n                    <jats:italic>Significance.<\/jats:italic>\n                    This work presents a simulation-based framework for optimizing energy settings of photon-counting detectors used in PCCT scanners, providing clinically translatable insights towards clinical adoption for accurate and standardized spectral imaging.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1088\/1361-6560\/ae5389","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,17]],"date-time":"2026-03-17T22:59:05Z","timestamp":1773788345000},"page":"075015","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1088\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Optimizing energy settings in CdTe, CZT, and Si photon-counting CT for material separation and detection"],"prefix":"10.1088","volume":"71","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4745-0546","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Mridul","family":"Bhattarai","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9123-5854","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ehsan","family":"Abadi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ehsan","family":"Samei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"266","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"pmbae5389bib1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1457","DOI":"10.1109\/TMI.2018.2886530","type":"journal-article","article-title":"DukeSim: a realistic, rapid, and scanner-specific simulation framework in computed tomography","volume":"38","author":"Abadi","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Med. Imaging"},{"key":"pmbae5389bib2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4878","DOI":"10.1118\/1.3231824","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Accelerating Monte Carlo simulations of photon transport in a voxelized geometry using a massively parallel graphics processing unit","volume":"36","author":"Badal","year":"2009","journal-title":"Med. Phys."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1047","DOI":"10.1002\/mp.16619","type":"journal-article","article-title":"A systematic task-based image quality assessment of photon-counting and energy integrating CT as a function of reconstruction kernel and phantom size","volume":"51","author":"Bhattarai","year":"2024a","journal-title":"Med. Phys."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1117\/12.3008659","type":"journal-article","article-title":"A generic model of semiconductor-based photon-counting detectors for spectral CT","volume":"12925","author":"Bhattarai","year":"2024b","journal-title":"Proc. SPIE"},{"key":"pmbae5389bib5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/mp.70195","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Development of a customizable model for spectral photon-counting detector CT","volume":"52","author":"Bhattarai","year":"2025a","journal-title":"Med. Phys."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1117\/12.2612663","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Simulation of the combined effects of charge sharing and pulse pileup in photon-counting CT","volume":"12031","author":"Bhattarai","year":"2022","journal-title":"Proc. SPIE\u2014Medical Imaging 2022: Physics of Medical Imaging"},{"key":"pmbae5389bib7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1117\/12.3046945","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Quantitative accuracy of CT protocols for cross-sectional and longitudinal assessment of COPD: a virtual imaging study","volume":"13405","author":"Bhattarai","year":"2025","journal-title":"Proc. SPIE"},{"key":"pmbae5389bib8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"6065","DOI":"10.1118\/1.3653195","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Task-based weights for photon counting spectral x-ray imaging","volume":"38","author":"Bornefalk","year":"2011","journal-title":"Med. Phys."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"44","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejmp.2020.04.026","type":"journal-article","article-title":"A validation of SpekPy: a software toolkit for modelling x-ray tube spectra","volume":"75","author":"Bujila","year":"2020","journal-title":"Phys. Med."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4775","DOI":"10.1002\/mp.16532","type":"journal-article","article-title":"MCR toolkit: a GPU-based toolkit for multi-channel reconstruction of preclinical and clinical x-ray CT data","volume":"50","author":"Clark","year":"2023","journal-title":"Med. Phys."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"675","DOI":"10.1080\/01621459.1937.10503522","type":"journal-article","article-title":"The use of ranks to avoid the assumption of normality implicit in the analysis of variance","volume":"32","author":"Friedman","year":"1937","journal-title":"J. Am. Stat. Assoc."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"53","DOI":"10.1016\/j.diii.2024.09.002","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Photon-counting CT systems: a technical review of current clinical possibilities","volume":"106","author":"Greffier","year":"2025","journal-title":"Diagn Interv. Imaging"},{"key":"pmbae5389bib13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1088\/1361-6560\/ae4163","type":"journal-article","article-title":"A novel projection data domain material decomposition method for dual-energy CT and its impact on the accuracy of attenuation values","volume":"71","author":"Haase","year":"2026","journal-title":"Phys. Med. Biol."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"6572","DOI":"10.1118\/1.4754587","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Optimization of K-edge imaging with spectral CT","volume":"39","author":"He","year":"2012","journal-title":"Med. Phys."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1088\/1361-6560\/adac9e","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Optimizing energy threshold selection for low-concentration contrast agent quantification in small animal photon-counting CT","volume":"70","author":"Hu","year":"2025","journal-title":"Phys. Med. Biol."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1510","DOI":"10.1007\/s00330-006-0517-6","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Material differentiation by dual energy CT: initial experience","volume":"17","author":"Johnson","year":"2007","journal-title":"Eur. Radiol."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2359","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm13082359","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Spectral photon-counting computed tomography: technical principles and applications in the assessment of cardiovascular diseases","volume":"13","author":"Meloni","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Clin. Med."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejmp.2025.105003","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Iodine quantification performance with deep silicon-based Photon-Counting CT: a virtual imaging trial study","volume":"135","author":"Panta","year":"2025a","journal-title":"Phys. Med."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"umaf031","DOI":"10.1093\/radadv\/umaf031","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Liver fat quantification using deep silicon photon-counting CT: an in silico imaging study","volume":"2","author":"Panta","year":"2025b","journal-title":"Radiol. Adv."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejmp.2024.103382","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Development of a separability index for task specific characterization of spectral computed tomography","volume":"122","author":"Rajagopal","year":"2024b","journal-title":"Phys. Med."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1088\/1361-6560\/ad9daf","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Impact of image formation factors on material discrimination in spectral CT","volume":"70","author":"Rajagopal","year":"2024a","journal-title":"Phys. Med. Biol."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1117\/12.3006532","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Performance assessment of photon counting versus energy integrated CT: concordance of in vivo and phantom measurements","volume":"12925","author":"Ria","year":"2024","journal-title":"Proc. SPIE"},{"key":"pmbae5389bib23","first-page":"1950","type":"conference-proceedings","volume":"vol Series 3","author":"Roessl","year":"2006"},{"key":"pmbae5389bib24","first-page":"79","author":"Rose","year":"1970","type":"book"},{"key":"pmbae5389bib25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1088\/1361-6560\/ad8b0a","type":"journal-article","article-title":"A framework to model charge sharing and pulse pileup for virtual imaging trials of photon-counting CT","volume":"69","author":"Sharma","year":"2024","journal-title":"Phys. Med. Biol."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"5595","DOI":"10.1088\/0031-9155\/53\/20\/002","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Energy-resolved computed tomography: first experimental results","volume":"53","author":"Shikhaliev","year":"2008","journal-title":"Phys. Med. Biol."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1515","DOI":"10.1002\/mp.17577","type":"journal-article","article-title":"A Monte Carlo method to assess the spectral performance of photon counting detectors","volume":"52","author":"Stierstorfer","year":"2025","journal-title":"Med. Phys."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1117\/1.JMI.11.S1.S12807","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Number of energy windows for photon counting detectors: is more actually more?","volume":"11","author":"Taguchi","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Med. Imaging"},{"key":"pmbae5389bib29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.1002\/mp.16841","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Direct energy binning for photon counting detectors: simulation study","volume":"51","author":"Taguchi","year":"2024","journal-title":"Med. Phys."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1117\/12.912113","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Equal-dose spectral optimization of spectral CT mono-energy photon counting","volume":"8313","author":"Tkaczyk","year":"2012","journal-title":"Proc. SPIE"},{"key":"pmbae5389bib31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1534","DOI":"10.1118\/1.3553401","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Material separation in x-ray CT with energy resolved photon-counting detectors","volume":"38","author":"Wang","year":"2011","journal-title":"Med. Phys."},{"key":"pmbae5389bib32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.dib.2019.104261","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Data of CT bow tie filter profiles from three modern CT scanners","volume":"25","author":"Yang","year":"2019","journal-title":"Data Brief"},{"key":"pmbae5389bib33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1117\/12.2646506","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Comparison of energy bin compression strategies for photon counting detectors","volume":"12304","author":"Yang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Proc. SPIE"},{"key":"pmbae5389bib34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.nima.2019.163132","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Robustness of optimal energy thresholds in photon-counting spectral CT","volume":"953","author":"Zheng","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A"}],"container-title":["Physics in Medicine &amp; Biology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1361-6560\/ae5389","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"am","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1361-6560\/ae5389\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"am","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1361-6560\/ae5389","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1361-6560\/ae5389\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1361-6560\/ae5389\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"am","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1361-6560\/ae5389\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1361-6560\/ae5389\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"am","intended-application":"similarity-checking"},{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1361-6560\/ae5389\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,8]],"date-time":"2026-04-08T07:22:55Z","timestamp":1775632975000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1361-6560\/ae5389"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,8]]},"references-count":34,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,8]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,14]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1088\/1361-6560\/ae5389","relation":{},"ISSN":["0031-9155","1361-6560"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0031-9155","type":"print"},{"value":"1361-6560","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,8]]},"assertion":[{"value":"Optimizing energy settings in CdTe, CZT, and Si photon-counting CT for material separation and detection","name":"article_title","label":"Article Title"},{"value":"Physics in Medicine & Biology","name":"journal_title","label":"Journal Title"},{"value":"paper","name":"article_type","label":"Article Type"},{"value":"\u00a9 2026 Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. All rights, including for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies, are reserved.","name":"copyright_information","label":"Copyright Information"},{"value":"2026-01-21","name":"date_received","label":"Date Received","group":{"name":"publication_dates","label":"Publication dates"}},{"value":"2026-03-17","name":"date_accepted","label":"Date Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_dates","label":"Publication dates"}},{"value":"2026-04-08","name":"date_epub","label":"Online publication date","group":{"name":"publication_dates","label":"Publication dates"}}]}}