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Author Llosa, G.; Rafecas, M.
Title Hybrid PET/Compton-camera imaging: an imager for the next generation Type Journal Article
Year 2023 Publication (up) European Physical Journal Plus Abbreviated Journal Eur. Phys. J. Plus
Volume 138 Issue 3 Pages 214 - 19pp
Keywords
Abstract Compton cameras can offer advantages over gamma cameras for some applications, since they are well suited for multitracer imaging and for imaging high-energy radiotracers, such as those employed in radionuclide therapy. While in conventional clinical settings state-of-the-art Compton cameras cannot compete with well-established methods such as PET and SPECT, there are specific scenarios in which they can constitute an advantageous alternative. The combination of PET and Compton imaging can benefit from the improved resolution and sensitivity of current PET technology and, at the same time, overcome PET limitations in the use of multiple radiotracers. Such a system can provide simultaneous assessment of different radiotracers under identical conditions and reduce errors associated with physical factors that can change between acquisitions. Advances are being made both in instrumentation developments combining PET and Compton cameras for multimodal or three-gamma imaging systems, and in image reconstruction, addressing the challenges imposed by the combination of the two modalities or the new techniques. This review article summarizes the advances made in Compton cameras for medical imaging and their combination with PET.
Address [Llosa, Gabriela] CSIC UV, Inst Fis Corpuscular IFIC, Catedrat Beltran 2, Paterna 46980, Spain, Email: gabriela.llosa@ific.uv.es;
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Springer Heidelberg Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2190-5444 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes WOS:000945407400001 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration yes
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 5488
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Author Llosa, G.; Trovato, M.; Barrio, J.; Etxebeste, A.; Muñoz, E.; Lacasta, C.; Oliver, J.F.; Rafecas, M.; Solaz, C.; Solevi, P.
Title First Images of a Three-layer compton Telescope prototype for Treatment Monitoring in hadron Therapy Type Journal Article
Year 2016 Publication (up) Frontiers in Oncology Abbreviated Journal Front. Oncol.
Volume 6 Issue Pages 14 - 6pp
Keywords Compton camera; Compton telescope; hadron therapy; treatment monitoring; LaBr3
Abstract A Compton telescope for dose monitoring in hadron therapy is under development at IFIC. The system consists of three layers of LaBr3 crystals coupled to silicon photomulti-plier arrays. Na-22 sources have been successfully imaged reconstructing the data with an ML-EM code. Calibration and temperature stabilization are necessary for the prototype operation at low coincidence rates. A spatial resolution of 7.8 mm FWHM has been obtained in the first imaging tests.
Address [Llosa, Gabriela; Trovato, Marco; Barrio, John; Etxebeste, Ane; Munoz, Enrique; Lacasta, Carlos; Oliver, Josep F.; Rafecas, Magdalena; Solaz, Carles; Solevi, Paola] Inst Fis Corpuscular IFIC CSIC UVEG, Valencia, Spain, Email: gabriela.llosa@ific.uv.es
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Frontiers Media Sa Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2234-943x ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes WOS:000369799800001 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration no
Call Number IFIC @ elepoucu @ Serial 2785
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Author Blume, M.; Martinez-Moller, A.; Keil, A.; Navab, N.; Rafecas, M.
Title Joint Reconstruction of Image and Motion in Gated Positron Emission Tomography Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication (up) IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Med. Imaging
Volume 29 Issue 11 Pages 1892-1906
Keywords Gating; motion compensation; positron emission tomography (PET); reconstruction
Abstract We present a novel intrinsic method for joint reconstruction of both image and motion in positron emission tomography (PET). Intrinsic motion compensation methods exclusively work on the measured data, without any external motion measurements. Most of these methods separate image from motion estimation: They use deformable image registration/optical flow techniques in order to estimate the motion from individually reconstructed gates. Then, the image is estimated based on this motion information. With these methods, a main problem lies in the motion estimation step, which is based on the noisy gated frames. The more noise is present, the more inaccurate the image registration becomes. As we show both visually and quantitatively, joint reconstruction using a simple deformation field motion model can compete with state-of-the-art image registration methods which use robust multilevel B-spline motion models.
Address [Blume, Moritz; Rafecas, Magdalena] Univ Valencia, CSIC, IFIC, E-46071 Valencia, Spain, Email: moritz.blume@cs.tum.edu
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Ieee-Inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0278-0062 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes ISI:000283941800007 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration yes
Call Number IFIC @ elepoucu @ Serial 340
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Author Cabello, J.; Torres-Espallardo, I.; Gillam, J.E.; Rafecas, M.
Title PET Reconstruction From Truncated Projections Using Total-Variation Regularization for Hadron Therapy Monitoring Type Journal Article
Year 2013 Publication (up) IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.
Volume 60 Issue 5 Pages 3364-3372
Keywords
Abstract Hadron therapy exploits the properties of ion beams to treat tumors by maximizing the dose released to the target and sparing healthy tissue. With hadron beams, the dose distribution shows a relatively low entrance dose which rises sharply at the end of the range, providing the characteristic Bragg peak that drops quickly thereafter. It is of critical importance in order not to damage surrounding healthy tissues and/or avoid targeting underdosage to know where the delivered dose profile ends-the location of the Bragg peak. During hadron therapy, short-lived beta(+)-emitters are produced along the beam path, their distribution being correlated with the delivered dose. Following positron annihilation, two photons are emitted, which can be detected using a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner. The low yield of emitters, their short half-life, and the wash out from the target region make the use of PET, even only a few minutes after hadron irradiation, a challenging application. In-beam PET represents a potential candidate to estimate the distribution of beta(+)-emitters during or immediately after irradiation, at the cost of truncation effects and degraded image quality due to the partial rings required of the PET scanner. Time-of-flight (ToF) information can potentially be used to compensate for truncation effects and to enhance image contrast. However, the highly demanding timing performance required in ToF-PET makes this option costly. Alternatively, the use of maximum-a-posteriori-expectation-maximization (MAP-EM), including total variation (TV) in the cost function, produces images with low noise, while preserving spatial resolution. In this paper, we compare data reconstructed with maximum-likelihood-expectation-maximization (ML-EM) and MAP-EM using TV as prior, and the impact of including ToF information, from data acquired with a complete and a partial-ring PET scanner, of simulated hadron beams interacting with a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) target. The results show that MAP-EM, in the absence of ToF information, produces lower noise images and more similar data compared to the simulated beta(+) distributions than ML-EM with ToF information in the order of 200-600 ps. The investigation is extended to the combination of MAP-EM and ToF information to study the limit of performance using both approaches.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0018-9499 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes WOS:000325827200023 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration yes
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 1610
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Author Oliver, J.F.; Fuster-Garcia, E.; Cabello, J.; Tortajada, S.; Rafecas, M.
Title Application of Artificial Neural Network for Reducing Random Coincidences in PET Type Journal Article
Year 2013 Publication (up) IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.
Volume 60 Issue 5 Pages 3399-3409
Keywords
Abstract Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is based on the detection in coincidence of the two photons created in a positron annihilation. In conventional PET, this coincidence identification is usually carried out through a coincidence electronic unit. An accidental coincidence occurs when two photons arising from different annihilations are classified as a coincidence. Accidental coincidences are one of the main sources of image degradation in PET. Some novel systems allow coincidences to be selected post-acquisition in software, or in real time through a digital coincidence engine in an FPGA. These approaches provide the user with extra flexibility in the sorting process and allow the application of alternative coincidence sorting procedures. In this work a novel sorting procedure based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) techniques has been developed. It has been compared to a conventional coincidence sorting algorithm based on a time coincidence window. The data have been obtained from Monte-Carlo simulations. A small animal PET scanner has been implemented to this end. The efficiency (the ratio of correct identifications) can be selected for both methods. In one case by changing the actual value of the coincidence window used, and in the other by changing a threshold at the output of the neural network. At matched efficiencies, the ANN-based method always produces a sorted output with a smaller random fraction. In addition, two differential trends are found: the conventional method presents a maximum achievable efficiency, while the ANN-based method is able to increase the efficiency up to unity, the ideal value, at the cost of increasing the random fraction. Images reconstructed using ANN sorted data (no compensation for randoms) present better contrast, and those image features which are more affected by randoms are enhanced. For the image quality phantom used in the paper, the ANN method decreases the spill-over ratio by a factor of 18%.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0018-9499 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes WOS:000325827200027 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration yes
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 1611
Permanent link to this record