PET transmission tomography using a novel nonlocal MRF prior

Chen, Yang; Hao, Liwei; Ye, Xianghua; Chen, Wufan; Luo, Limin; Yin, Xindao

doi:10.1016/j.compmedimag.2009.06.005

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Volume 33, Issue 8 , Pages 623-633, December 2009

PET transmission tomography using a novel nonlocal MRF prior☆

Yang Chen
- The Laboratory of Image Science and Technology, Southeast University, China
- The School of Biomedical Engineering, Southern Medical University, China
Liwei Hao
- The School of Biomedical Engineering, Southern Medical University, China
Xianghua Ye
- The Department of Radiation Oncology, Nanfang Hospital Affiliated to Southern Medical University, China
Wufan Chen
- The School of Biomedical Engineering, Southern Medical University, China
- Corresponding author at: The Laboratory of Image Science and Technology, Southeast University, Nanjing, China. Tel.: +86 13705152673.
Limin Luo
- The Laboratory of Image Science and Technology, Southeast University, China
- Corresponding author at: The Laboratory of Image Science and Technology, Southeast University, Nanjing, China. Tel.: +86 13705152673.
Xindao Yin
- The Department of Radiology, Nanjing First Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, China

Received 29 October 2008; received in revised form 6 May 2009; accepted 24 June 2009.

Abstract

In positron emission tomography, transmission scans can be performed to estimate attenuation correction factors (ACFs) which are in turn used to correct the emission scans. And such an attenuation correction is crucial for quantitatively accurate PET reconstructions. The prior model used in this work was based on our assumption that the attenuation values vary smoothly, with occasional discontinuities at anatomical borders. And on the other hand, long acquisition or scan times, although alleviating the noise effect of the count-limited scans, are blamed for patient uncomfortableness and movements. So, transmission tomography often suffers from the noise effect because of the short scan time. Thus reconstruction which is capable of overcoming the noise effect is highly needed. In this article, we apply the nonlocal prior Bayesian reconstruction method in PET transmission tomography. Resulting experimentations validate that the reconstructions using the nonlocal prior can reconstruct better transmission images and overcome noise effect even when the scan time is relatively short.

Keywords: Positron emission tomography (PET), Transmission tomography, Markov random fields (MRF), Nonlocal prior, Attenuation correction factors (ACFs)