Dynamic Myocardial SPECT Imaging Using Single-Pinhole Collimator Detectors: Distance-Driven Forward and Back-Projection, and KDE-Based Image Reconstruction Methods

Abstract

SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) is the modality of choice for myocardial perfusion imaging due to the high sensitivity and specificity, and the lower cost of equipment and radiotracers compared to PET. Dynamic SPECT imaging provides new possibilities for myocardial perfusion imaging by encoding more information in the reconstructed images in the form of time-activity functions. The recent introduction of small solid-state SPECT cameras using multiple pinhole collimators, such as the GE Discovery NM 530c, offers the ability to obtain accurate myocardial perfusion information with markedly decreased acquisition times and offers the possibility to obtain quantitative dynamic perfusion information.

This research targets two aspects of dynamic SPECT imaging with the intent of contributing to the improvement of projection and reconstruction methods. First, we propose an adaptation of distance-driven projection to SPECT imaging systems using single-pinhole collimator detectors. The proposed distance-driven projection approach accounts for the finite size of the pinhole, the possibly coarse discretization of the detector and object spaces, and the tilt of the detector surface. We evaluate the projection method in terms of resolution and signal to noise ratio (SNR).

We also propose two maximum a posteriori (MAP) iterative image reconstruction methods employing kernel density estimators. The proposed reconstruction methods cluster time-activity functions (or intensity values) by their spatial proximity and similarity, each of which is determined by spatial and range scaling parameters respectively. The results of our experiments support our belief that the proposed reconstruction methods are especially effective when performing reconstructions from low-count measurements.