The influence of filters on the SPECT image of Carlson phantom

Alireza Sadremomtaz, Payvand Taherparvar

Department of Physics, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.

DOI: 10.4236/jbise.2013.63037                

Abstract

Filter backprojection is an important method of image reconstruction technique in clinical nuclear medicine imaging. Because of noisy images due to less available photon statistics and different factors associated with imaging system in nuclear medicine tomography, using optimal filter to suppress the noise with keeping the proper signal is one of the significant steps in image reconstruction strategy for clinical use. In this paper, we present the effect of implementation of different filters on the hot region of Carlson phantom SPECT image in reconstruction process. By defining some criteria such as image smoothness and contrast, estimation of spatial resolution and location of hot cylindrical sources and their detectability the best filter with specified parameter have been determined and the results have been interpreted. Results show that the perceived image quality of hot region and also their detectability has been improved when Shepp-Logan and Ram-Lak filters with cut-off frequency of 0.4 has been used.

Keywords

SPECT; Carlson Phantom; Filter; Cut-Off Frequency

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Cherry, S.R., Sorenson, J.A. and Phelps, M.E. (2003) Physics in nuclear medicine. 3th Edition, Saunders, Philadelphia.
[2]	Cullom, S.J. (2001) Principles of cardiac SPECT. In: Cardiac SPECT Imaging, Williams & Wilkins, Lippincott, USA.
[3]	Kunyansky, L.A. (2001) A new SPECT reconstruction algorithm based on the Novikov explicit inversion formula. Inverse Problems, 17, 293-306. doi:10.1088/0266-5611/17/2/309
[4]	Zeniya, T., Watabe, H., Aoi, T., Kyeong, M., Teramoto, N., Hayashi, T., Sohlberg, A., Kudo, H. and Iida, H. (2004) A new reconstruction strategy for image improvement in pinhole SPECT. European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, 31, 1166-1172. doi:10.1007/s00259-004-1510-4
[5]	Groch, M.W. and Erwin, W.D. (2000) SPECT in the year 2000: Basic principles. Journal of Nuclear Medicine technology, 28, 233-244.
[6]	Lyra, M. and Ploussi, A. (2011) Filtering in SPECT image reconstruction. International Journal of Biomedical Imaging, 2011, 2011, 1-14. doi:10.1155/2011/693795
[7]	Gilland, D.R., Tsui, B.M.W., McCartney, W.H., Perry, J.R. and Jan, B. (1988) Determination of the optimum filter function for SPECT imaging. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 29, 643-650.
[8]	IAEA (2009) Quality assurance for SPECT system. ©IAEA, Vienna, IAEA Human Health Series No. 6.