ABSTRACT
The previous chapter dealt with the physical and technological principles of computed tomography (CT). We will now focus on those steps in the CT imaging chain that start from a complete set of projection data in digital form (input) and end with the generation of a digital tomographic image (output). Such steps of the imaging chain are globally referred to as “image reconstruction,” or “tomographic reconstruction.” What precedes this process (e.g., the X-ray generation, interaction with matter, and detection scanner technology) as well as what follows it (e.g., conversion of images to standard image formats, post-processing, transferring to a database, printing, and referring) are outside the scope of this chapter. Even though the next sections are, in some cases, presented in the context of medical imaging, the results obtained are fully applicable to non-medical CT scanners whose working principle is very similar to their clinical or preclinical counterparts (see, e.g., Section III, Chapters 45 and 46, for industrial CT).
