Scatter Compensation Techniques for SPECT

Compton scattered photons included within the photopeak pulse-height window decrease the image contrasts of lesions. Furthermore, in the absence of an effective compensation procedure, the accuracy of the SPECT measurement is reduced. In the following sections the effect of scatter on SPECT is reviewed, and the influence of scattered photons on the effective linear attenuation coefficient used with multiplicative attenuation compensation methods is described. Criteria for evaluating scatter compensation procedures are proposed, and approaches to reducing the effect of scatter on SPECT imaging are described.