A diagnostic imaging system includes an x-ray source that emits a beam of
x-ray energy toward an object to be imaged and an energy discriminating
(ED) detector that receives the x-ray energy emitted by the x-ray energy
source. The ED detector includes a first layer having a first thickness,
wherein the first layer comprises a semiconductor configurable to operate
in at least an integrating mode and a second layer having a second
thickness greater than the first thickness, and configured to receive
x-rays that pass through the first layer. The system further includes a
data acquisition system (DAS) operably connected to the ED detector and a
computer that is operably connected to the DAS. The computer is
programmed to identify saturated data in the second layer and substitute
the saturated data with non-saturated data from a corresponding pixel in
the first layer.