Evaluation of 3D reconstruction algorithms for a small animal PET camera

Author

Johnson, C.A. ; Seidel, J. ; Carson, R.E. ; Gandler, W.R. ; Sofer, A. ; Green, M.V. ; Daube-Witherspoon, AndM E.

Author_Institution

Nat. Inst. of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

Volume

3

fYear

1996

Firstpage

1481

Abstract

The use of paired, opposing position-sensitive phototube scintillation cameras (SCs) operating in coincidence for small animal imaging with positron emitters is currently under study. Because of the low sensitivity of the system even in 3D mode and the need to produce images with high resolution, it was postulated that a 3D expectation maximization (EM) reconstruction algorithm might be well suited for this application. We investigated four reconstruction algorithms for the 3D SC PET camera: 2D filtered back-projection (FBP), 2D ordered subset EM (OSEM), 3D reprojection (3DRP), and 3D OSEM. Noise was assessed for all slices by the coefficient of variation in a simulated uniform cylinder. Resolution was assessed from a simulation of 15 point sources in the warm background of the uniform cylinder. At comparable noise levels, the resolution achieved with OSEM (0.9-mm to 1.2-mm) is significantly better than that obtained with FBP or 3DRP (1.5-mm to 2.0-mm.) Images of a rat skull labeled with ¹⁸F-fluoride suggest that 3D OSEM can improve image quality of a small animal PET camera

Keywords

biological techniques; biomedical equipment; gamma-ray detection; image enhancement; image reconstruction; image resolution; maximum likelihood estimation; photomultipliers; position sensitive particle detectors; positron emission tomography; solid scintillation detectors; 2D filtered back-projection; 2D ordered subset EM; 3D OSEM; 3D expectation maximization reconstruction algorithm; 3D mode; 3D reconstruction algorithms; 3D reprojection; ¹⁸F-fluoride; F; coincidence; high resolution; image quality; low sensitivity; noise; paired opposing position-sensitive phototube scintillation cameras; point sources; rat skull; simulated uniform cylinder; small animal PET camera; uniform cylinder; warm background; Animals; Cameras; High-resolution imaging; Image quality; Image resolution; Noise level; Photoelectricity; Positron emission tomography; Reconstruction algorithms; Skull;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nuclear Science Symposium, 1996. Conference Record., 1996 IEEE

Conference_Location

Anaheim, CA

ISSN

1082-3654

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3534-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NSSMIC.1996.587907

Filename

587907