Transmission-less Attenuation Estimation from Time-of-flight PET Histo-images Using Consistency Equations

Overview

Journal Phys Med Biol

Publisher IOP Publishing

Specialties Biophysics
Nuclear Medicine
Radiology

Date 2015 Aug 13

PMID 26267223

Citations 8

Authors

Yusheng Li

Michel Defrise

Scott D Metzler

Samuel Matej

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

In positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, attenuation correction with accurate attenuation estimation is crucial for quantitative patient studies. Recent research showed that the attenuation sinogram can be determined up to a scaling constant utilizing the time-of-flight information. The TOF-PET data can be naturally and efficiently stored in a histo-image without information loss, and the radioactive tracer distribution can be efficiently reconstructed using the DIRECT approaches. In this paper, we explore transmission-less attenuation estimation from TOF-PET histo-images. We first present the TOF-PET histo-image formation and the consistency equations in the histo-image parameterization, then we derive a least-squares solution for estimating the directional derivatives of the attenuation factors from the measured emission histo-images. Finally, we present a fast solver to estimate the attenuation factors from their directional derivatives using the discrete sine transform and fast Fourier transform while considering the boundary conditions. We find that the attenuation histo-images can be uniquely determined from the TOF-PET histo-images by considering boundary conditions. Since the estimate of the attenuation directional derivatives can be inaccurate for LORs tangent to the patient boundary, external sources, e.g. a ring or annulus source, might be needed to give an accurate estimate of the attenuation gradient for such LORs. The attenuation estimation from TOF-PET emission histo-images is demonstrated using simulated 2D TOF-PET data.

Citing Articles

2D feasibility study of joint reconstruction of attenuation and activity in limited angle TOF-PET.

Vergara M, Rezaei A, Schramm G, Rodriguez-Alvarez M, Benlloch Baviera J, Nuyts J IEEE Trans Radiat Plasma Med Sci. 2021; 5(5):712-722.

PMID: 34541435 PMC: 8445242. DOI: 10.1109/trpms.2021.3079462.

PET-enabled dual-energy CT: image reconstruction and a proof-of-concept computer simulation study.

Wang G Phys Med Biol. 2020; 65(24):245028.

PMID: 33120376 PMC: 8582600. DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/abc5ca.

Practical joint reconstruction of activity and attenuation with autonomous scaling for time-of-flight PET.

Li Y, Matej S, Karp J Phys Med Biol. 2020; 65(23):235037.

PMID: 32340014 PMC: 8383745. DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/ab8d75.

Joint estimation of activity image and attenuation sinogram using time-of-flight positron emission tomography data consistency condition filtering.

Li Q, Li H, Kim K, El Fakhri G J Med Imaging (Bellingham). 2017; 4(2):023502.

PMID: 28466027 PMC: 5405780. DOI: 10.1117/1.JMI.4.2.023502.

Fourier rebinning and consistency equations for time-of-flight PET planograms.

Li Y, Defrise M, Matej S, Metzler S Inverse Probl. 2017; 32(9).

PMID: 28255191 PMC: 5328636. DOI: 10.1088/0266-5611/32/9/095004.

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