DYNAMIC SPECT CAMERA

• US 20100245354A1
• Filed: 03/22/2010
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Spectrum Dynamics Medical Ltd
• Original Assignee: Spectrum Dynamics LLC
• Inventors: Rousso, Benny, Ben-Haim, Shlomo, Nagler, Michael, Ziv, Omer
• Granted Patent: US 7,968,851 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/424
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7289 Retrospective gating, i.e. associating measured signals or images with a physiological event after the actual measurement or image acquisition, e.g. by simultaneously recording an additional physiological signal during the measurement or image acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/037 Emission tomography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/503 for diagnosis of the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5288 involving retrospective matching to a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/13 Tomography A61B8/10, A61B8/12 take precedence; tomography for radiation diagnosis A61B6/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5284 involving retrospective matching to a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/161 Applications in the field of nuclear medicine, e.g. in vivo counting apparatus for radiation diagnosis A61B6/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/1644 using an array of optically separate scintillation elements permitting direct location of scintillations G01T1/1645 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/243 Modular detectors, e.g. arrays formed from self contained units constructional or manufacturing details H01L25/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/247 Detector read-out circuitry for processing gain or off-set correction H04N
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/249 specially adapted for use in SPECT or PET SPECT imaging G01T1/1642; PET imaging G01T1/2985; detecting prohibited goods, e.g. weapons, explosives, hazardous substances, contraband or smuggled objects G01V5/20
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/006 Inverse problem, transformation from projection-space into object-space, e.g. transform methods, back-projection, algebraic methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10088 Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10108 Single photon emission computed tomography [SPECT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10116 X-ray image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10132 Ultrasound image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10136 3D ultrasound image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30048 Heart; Cardiac
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 : Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/62 : of area, perimeter, diameter or volume

Abstract

A dynamic SPECT camera is provided, comprising, a plurality of single-pixel detectors, a timing mechanism, in communication with each single-pixel detector, configured for enabling time-binning of the radioactive emissions impinging upon each single-pixel detector to time periods not greater than substantially 30 seconds, and a position-tracker, configured for providing information on the position and orientation of each detecting unit, with respect to the overall structure, substantially at all times, during the individual motion, the dynamic SPECT camera being configured for acquiring a tomographic reconstruction image of a region of interest of about 15×15×15 cubic centimeters, during an acquisition time of 30 seconds, at a spatial resolution of at least 10×10×10 cubic millimeter. The dynamic camera is configured for very short damping time, and may further acquire images in a stationary mode, with no motion. It is further configured for time binning at dynamically varying time-bin lengths, dynamically determining a spectral energy bin for each detecting unit, and employing an anatomic construction of voxels in the imaging and reconstruction.

Claims

1. A method for anatomic construction of voxels, comprising:

providing a structural image of a region of interest;

constructing an anatomic system of voxels, for the region of interest, in which voxel boundaries are aligned with boundaries of structural objects of the region of interest, based on the structural image;

performing radioactive-emission imaging of the region of interest, utilizing the anatomic system of voxels; and

performing reconstruction of the radioactive-emission imaging, utilizing the anatomic system of voxels.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the structural image is provided by a structural imager, selected from the group consisting of 2-D ultrasound, 3-D ultrasound, planner x-rays, CT x-rays, and MRI.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the structural imager is co-registered to a radioactive-emission imaging camera which performs the radioactive-emission imaging.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the structural imager is not co-registered to a radioactive-emission imaging camera which performs the radioactive-emission imaging, and further including corrections for misregistration.

5. The method of claim 3, and further including attenuation correction of the radioactive-emission imaging based on the structural image.

6. The method of claim 3, and further including displaying the structural image and the reconstruction of the radioactive-emission imaging together.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the structural image is provided from a lookup system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the lookup system is corrected for patient'"'"'s details.

9. The method of claim 1, and further including fitting the boundaries of the structural objects to parametric equations and utilizing the parametric equations in the constructing of the anatomic system of voxels.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the anatomic system of voxels includes voxels of varying volumes, depending on their anatomic position and relevance.

11. The method of claim 1, and further including time-binning of the radioactive emissions to time periods not greater than substantially 30 seconds.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the anatomic system of voxels includes voxels of varying volumes, depending on the relevance of their dynamic activity.

13. A method of reconstruction of a radioactive emission image, comprising:

providing a first system of voxels for a region of interest;

obtaining radioactive-emission data from the region of interest;

performing a first reconstruction, based on the radioactive-emission data and the first system of voxels, to obtain a first image;

correcting the first system of voxels, by aligning voxel boundaries with object boundaries, based on the first image;

thus obtaining a second system of voxels;

performing a second reconstruction, based on the radioactive-emission data and the second system of voxels, thus obtaining a second image.

14. A dynamic SPECT camera configured for dynamically determining a spectral energy bin for each detecting unit, the camera comprising:

an overall structure, which defines proximal and distal ends with respect to a body;

a plurality of detecting unit;

arranged on the overall structure and configured for detecting radioactive emissions in a spectral range between 10 KeV and 1 MeV;

a spectral selection mechanism, for enabling a selection of a spectral energy bin to be used for each detecting unit, independently from the other detecting units; and

a lookup system of recommended spectral energy bin values, as functions of at least one of a specific region of interest, an administered radiopharmaceutical, time since the administration of the radiopharmaceutical, a view of the detecting unit with respect to the region of interest, and patient'"'"'s details;

wherein the spectral selection mechanism is further configured for dynamically determining the spectral energy bin for each detecting unit, as functions of the specific region of interest, the administered radiopharmaceutical, the time elapsed since the administration of the radiopharmaceutical, the view of the detecting unit with respect to the region of interest, and patients'"'"' details, from the lookup system.

15. The dynamic SPECT camera of claim 14, wherein the spectral energy bin is designed to include a primary photon energy ±

10%.

16. The dynamic SPECT camera of claim 14, wherein the spectral energy bin is designed to include a primary photon energy ±

7%.

17. The dynamic SPECT camera of claim 14, wherein the spectral energy bin is designed to include a primary photon energy ±

5%.

18. The dynamic SPECT camera of claim 14, and further including administering at least two radiopharmaceuticals and viewing a same region with different groups of detecting units, each group being configured for a different spectral energy bin, so as to view each radiopharmaceutical in the same region independently of the other.

19. The dynamic SPECT camera of claim 14, wherein the spectral selection mechanism is a hardware unit.

20. The dynamic SPECT camera of claim 14, and further including:

a first plurality of assemblies, arranged on the overall structure, forming an array of assemblies, each assembly comprising;

a second plurality of the detecting units, each of the detecting units including;

a single-pixel detector, for detecting radioactive emissions; and

a dedicated collimator, attached to the single-pixel detector, at the proximal end thereof, for defining a solid collection angle δ

for the detecting unit; and

an assembly motion provider, configured for providing the assembly with individual assembly motion with respect to the overall structure, during the acquisition of radioactive-emission data for a tomographic image.