Fast iterative image reconstruction of 3D PET data

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:513321

Kinahan, P E; Townsend, D W ^[1]; Michel, C ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
2. Catholic Univ. of Louvain (Belgium); and others

For count-limited PET imaging protocols, two different approaches to reducing statistical noise are volume, or 3D, imaging to increase sensitivity, and statistical reconstruction methods to reduce noise propagation. These two approaches have largely been developed independently, likely due to the perception of the large computational demands of iterative 3D reconstruction methods. We present results of combining the sensitivity of 3D PET imaging with the noise reduction and reconstruction speed of 2D iterative image reconstruction methods. This combination is made possible by using the recently-developed Fourier rebinning technique (FORE), which accurately and noiselessly rebins 3D PET data into a 2D data set. The resulting 2D sinograms are then reconstructed independently by the ordered-subset EM (OSEM) iterative reconstruction method, although any other 2D reconstruction algorithm could be used. We demonstrate significant improvements in image quality for whole-body 3D PET scans by using the FORE+OSEM approach compared with the standard 3D Reprojection (3DRP) algorithm. In addition, the FORE+OSEM approach involves only 2D reconstruction and it therefore requires considerably less reconstruction time than the 3DRP algorithm, or any fully 3D statistical reconstruction algorithm.

• OSTI ID: 513321
• Report Number(s): CONF-961123--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

44 INSTRUMENTATION
INCLUDING NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE DETECTORS
55 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
BASIC STUDIES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
BODY
IMAGE PROCESSING
ITERATIVE METHODS
LUNGS
NEOPLASMS
NOISE
POSITRON COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS