Comparison of channelized hotelling and human observers in determining optimum OS-EM reconstruction parameters for myocardial SPECT

The performance of the Channelized Hotelling Observer (CHO) was compared to that of human observers for determining optimum parameters for the iterative OS-EM image reconstruction method for the task of defect detection in myocardial SPECT images. The optimum parameters were those that maximized defect detectability in the SPECT images. Low noise, parallel SPECT projection data, with and without an anterior, inferior or lateral LV wall defect, were simulated using the Monte Carlo method. Poisson noise was added to generate noisy realizations. Data were reconstructed using OS-EM at 1 & 4 subsets/iteration and at 1, 3, 5, 7 & 9 iterations. Images were converted to 2D short-axis slices with integer pixel values. The CHO used 3 radially-symmetric, 2D channels, with varying levels of internal observer noise. For each parameter setting, 600 defect-present and 600 defect-absent image vectors were used to calculate the detectability index (dA). The human observers rated the likelihood that a defect was present in a specified location. For each parameter setting, the AUC was estimated from 48 defect-present and 48 defect-absent images. The combined human observer results showed the optimum parameter setting could be in the range 5-36 updates ([number of subsets]/iteration × number of iterations). The CHO results showed the optimum parameter setting to be 4-5 updates. The performance of the CHO was much more sensitive to the reconstruction parameter setting than was that of the human observers. The rankings of the CHO detectability values did not change with varying levels of internal noise.