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Author Aguiar, P.; Rafecas, M.; Ortuño, J.E.; Kontaxakis, G.; Santos, A.; Pavia, J.; Rosetti, M.
Title Geometrical and Monte Carlo projectors in 3D PET reconstruction Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication (down) Medical Physics Abbreviated Journal Med. Phys.
Volume 37 Issue 11 Pages 5691-5702
Keywords 3D PET; iterative reconstruction; list-mode reconstruction; ray-tracing techniques; Monte Carlo simulation; system response matrix
Abstract Purpose: In the present work, the authors compare geometrical and Monte Carlo projectors in detail. The geometrical projectors considered were the conventional geometrical Siddon ray-tracer (S-RT) and the orthogonal distance-based ray-tracer (OD-RT), based on computing the orthogonal distance from the center of image voxel to the line-of-response. A comparison of these geometrical projectors was performed using different point spread function (PSF) models. The Monte Carlo-based method under consideration involves an extensive model of the system response matrix based on Monte Carlo simulations and is computed off-line and stored on disk. Methods: Comparisons were performed using simulated and experimental data of the commercial small animal PET scanner rPET. Results: The results demonstrate that the orthogonal distance-based ray-tracer and Siddon ray-tracer using PSF image-space convolutions yield better images in terms of contrast and spatial resolution than those obtained after using the conventional method and the multiray-based S-RT. Furthermore, the Monte Carlo-based method yields slight improvements in terms of contrast and spatial resolution with respect to these geometrical projectors. Conclusions: The orthogonal distance-based ray-tracer and Siddon ray-tracer using PSF image-space convolutions represent satisfactory alternatives to factorizing the system matrix or to the conventional on-the-fly ray-tracing methods for list-mode reconstruction, where an extensive modeling based on Monte Carlo simulations is unfeasible.
Address [Aguiar, Pablo] Univ Santiago de Compostela, Dept Fis Particulas, Complexo Hosp Univ Santiago de Compostela, Fdn IDICHUS IDIS, Santiago De Compostela, Spain, Email: pablo.aguiar.fernandez@sergas.es
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Amer Assoc Physicists Medicine Amer Inst Physics Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0094-2405 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes ISI:000283747600015 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration no
Call Number IFIC @ elepoucu @ Serial 338
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Author Brzezinski, K.; Oliver, J.F.; Gillam, J.; Rafecas, M.; Studen, A.; Grkovski, M.; Kagan, H.; Smith, S.; Llosa, G.; Lacasta, C.; Clinthorne, N.H.
Title Experimental evaluation of the resolution improvement provided by a silicon PET probe Type Journal Article
Year 2016 Publication (down) Journal of Instrumentation Abbreviated Journal J. Instrum.
Volume 11 Issue Pages P09016 - 13pp
Keywords Gamma camera; SPECT; PET PET/CT; coronary CT angiography (CTA); Medical-image reconstruction methods and algorithms; computer-aided software
Abstract A high-resolution PET system, which incorporates a silicon detector probe into a conventional PET scanner, has been proposed to obtain increased image quality in a limited region of interest. Detailed simulation studies have previously shown that the additional probe information improves the spatial resolution of the reconstructed image and increases lesion detectability, with no cost to other image quality measures. The current study expands on the previous work by using a laboratory prototype of the silicon PET-probe system to examine the resolution improvement in an experimental setting. Two different versions of the probe prototype were assessed, both consisting of a back-to-back pair of 1-mm thick silicon pad detectors, one arranged in 32 x 16 arrays of 1.4mm x 1.4mm pixels and the other in 40 x 26 arrays of 1.0mm x 1.0mm pixels. Each detector was read out by a set of VATAGP7 ASICs and a custom-designed data acquisition board which allowed trigger and data interfacing with the PET scanner, itself consisting of BGO block detectors segmented into 8 x 6 arrays of 6mm x 12mm x 30mm crystals. Limited-angle probe data was acquired from a group of Na-22 point-like sources in order to observe the maximum resolution achievable using the probe system. Data from a Derenzo-like resolution phantom was acquired, then scaled to obtain similar statistical quality as that of previous simulation studies. In this case, images were reconstructed using measurements of the PET ring alone and with the inclusion of the probe data. Images of the Na-22 source demonstrated a resolution of 1.5mm FWHM in the probe data, the PET ring resolution being approximately 6 mm. Profiles taken through the image of the Derenzo-like phantom showed a clear increase in spatial resolution. Improvements in peak-to-valley ratios of 50% and 38%, in the 4.8mm and 4.0mm phantom features respectively, were observed, while previously unresolvable 3.2mm features were brought to light by the addition of the probe. These results support the possibility of improving the image resolution of a clinical PET scanner using the silicon PET-probe.
Address [Brzezinski, K.; Oliver, J. F.; Gillam, J.; Rafecas, M.; Llosa, G.; Lacasta, C.] Univ Valencia, CSIC, Inst Fis Corpuscular, C Catedrat Jose Beltran 2, Valencia, Spain, Email: k.w.brzezinski@rug.nl
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Iop Publishing Ltd Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1748-0221 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes WOS:000387862300016 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration yes
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 2865
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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 (down) 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 (down) 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
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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 (down) 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
Permanent link to this record