title: Resolution improvement in positron emission tomography using anatomical Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
abstract: An ideal imaging system should provide information with high-sensitivity, high spatial, and temporal resolution. Unfortunately, it is not possible to satisfy all of these desired features in a single modality. In this paper, we discuss methods to improve the spatial resolution in positron emission imaging (PET) using a priori information from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Our approach uses an image restoration algorithm based on the maximization of mutual information (MMI), which has found significant success for optimizing multimodal image registration. The MMI criterion is used to estimate the parameters in the Sharpness-Constrained Wiener filter. The generated filter is then applied to restore PET images of a realistic digital brain phantom. The resulting restored images show improved resolution and better signal-to-noise ratio compared to the interpolated PET images. We conclude that a Sharpness-Constrained Wiener filter having parameters optimized from a MMI criterion may be useful for restoring spatial resolution in PET based on a priori information from correlated MRI.
authors.affiliation: Tu and Yuen Center for Functional Onco-Imaging, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. yonchu.cy@gmail.com
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Min-Ying
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mandelkern
authors.forename: Orhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Nalcioglu
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D016011:Normal Distribution; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*