MOTION CORRECTION IN A PROJECTION DOMAIN IN TIME OF FLIGHT POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY

摘要

Motion correction is performed in time-of-flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET). Rather than applying motion correction to reconstructed images or as part of reconstruction, the motion correction is applied in the projection domain of the PET data. The TOF data from the PET scan is altered to account for the motion. The TOF data is altered prior to starting reconstruction. The motion in the patient or image domain is forward projected to provide motion in the projection domain of the TOF data. The projected motion of different phases is applied to the TOF data from different phases, respectively, to create a combined dataset of motion corrected TOF data representing the patient at a reference phase. The dataset is larger (e.g., similar size from projection data dimension point of view, but contains more counts per projection data unit or is more dense) than available at one phase of the physiological cycle and is then used in reconstruction.

主权项

1. A method for motion correction in time-of-flight positron emission tomography, the method comprising:
acquiring, from a memory, a motion vector field for motion of tissue of a patient over a plurality of phases of a physiological cycle; acquiring, with a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner having a plurality of detectors, time of flight data along lines-of-response from emissions, the time of flight data being in a plurality of sets for the respective plurality of phases; forward projecting the motion vector field along at least one dimension; combining the time of flight data for the plurality of phases as a function of the forward projection of the motion vector field; reconstructing an image from the combined time of flight data from the plurality of phases; and displaying the image.