Clinical analysis of reconstruction techniques to correctly identify the myocardium in the presence of overlying organs

It is widely accepted that iterative reconstruction with attenuation and collimator blurring corrections produce quality images and should therefore be a preferred technique for clinical use. In this study we test the performance of such an algorithm on clinical myocardial perfusion studies in the presence of high activity, subdiaphragmatic organs. Monte Carlo simulations, phantom experiments and clinical patient studies are used to investigate the effect of advanced reconstruction techniques on the quantitative accuracy of images. We conclude that reconstruction with correction for collimator blurring in three dimensions significantly improves image resolution and contrast.