title: Figures of merit for comparing reconstruction algorithms with a volume-imaging PET scanner.
abstract: For volume-imaging PET scanners, no septa are used to maximize the sensitivity by collecting events oblique to the scanner axis. We answer two questions: (i) how does the performance of an image reconstruction algorithm for a volume-imaging PET scanner depend on its general dimensions? and (ii) at what point is a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction algorithm needed for a volume-imaging scanner, as the axial extent is increased? A 3D reconstruction algorithm will accurately incorporate the oblique events in a reconstruction of the original source distribution. From simulations of an existing volume PET scanner with a maximum axial acceptance angle (+/-alpha) of alpha = 9 degrees, however, we show that the single-slice rebinning algorithm is a good compromise between sensitivity, speed, and accuracy when compared to standard two-dimensional reconstruction (alpha = 1 degrees), and a 3D reconstruction with alpha = 9 degrees. We also show with simulations that a new scanner with alpha = 27 degrees requires 3D reconstruction in order to achieve maximum sensitivity without unacceptable losses in accuracy. Measurements of scanner performance are based on a series of figures of merit that characterize image quality and quantitative accuracy measured from a set of simulated test phantoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, 110 Donner Building, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Kinahan
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Karp
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity