Synthetic Hounsfield units from spectral CT data

Beam-hardening-free synthetic images with absolute CT numbers that radiologists are used to can be constructed from spectral CT data by forming 'dichromatic" images after basis decomposition. The CT numbers are accurate for all tissues and the method does not require additional reconstruction. This method prevents radiologists from having to relearn new rules-of-thumb regarding absolute CT numbers for various organs and conditions as conventional CT is replaced by spectral CT. Displaying the synthetic Hounsfield unit images side-by-side with images reconstructed for optimal detectability for a certain task can ease the transition from conventional to spectral CT.