HIGH CONTRAST IMAGING AND FAST IMAGING RECONSTRUCTION
First Claim
1. A nuclear image optimization system, including:
- a nuclear scanner that acquires nuclear scan data of a volume of interest (VOI), and having one or more collimators that provide a low level of collimation during nuclear scan data acquisition;
an object size detector that determines a size of the VOI;
a filter function library having a lookup table that identifies one or more object size-dependent filter functions for each of a plurality of object sizes; and
a processor that performs an iterative reconstruction algorithm, executes the object size-dependent filter function after executing a predetermined number of reconstruction algorithm iterations, and outputs an enhanced nuclear image volume representation.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
When reconstructing low-collimation nuclear scan data (18) (e.g., SPECT) into a nuclear image volume (19), a spatial frequency-dependent (SFD) filter function is applied in Fourier space to the reconstructed image (19) to improve image resolution given a predefined number of reconstruction iterations and/or to reduce the number of reconstruction iterations required to achieve a predetermined level of image resolution. Size of an object to be imaged is determined, and the SFD filter function is determined or generated based on signal power spectrum (and/or modulated transfer function) data, object size, and desired image quality (or number of reconstruction iterations). The SFD filter function amplifies higher-energy components (e.g., corresponding to a lesion or tumor, or the like) of the spatial frequency spectrum to improve viability in a low collimated nuclear image (19) using fewer reconstruction iterations.
25 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A nuclear image optimization system, including:
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a nuclear scanner that acquires nuclear scan data of a volume of interest (VOI), and having one or more collimators that provide a low level of collimation during nuclear scan data acquisition; an object size detector that determines a size of the VOI; a filter function library having a lookup table that identifies one or more object size-dependent filter functions for each of a plurality of object sizes; and a processor that performs an iterative reconstruction algorithm, executes the object size-dependent filter function after executing a predetermined number of reconstruction algorithm iterations, and outputs an enhanced nuclear image volume representation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method of increasing image reconstruction speed for a predetermined number of reconstruction iterations, including:
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acquiring scan data of an object; determining a size of the object; identifying an object size-dependent filter function for application to a reconstructed image of the object based on the object size and the predetermined number of reconstruction iterations; performing the predetermined number of reconstruction iterations to reconstruct an image of the object; applying the object size-dependent filter function to the reconstructed image after a selected number of reconstruction iterations to enhance resolution; and storing the enhanced reconstructed image to memory. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of decreasing a number of reconstruction iterations executed to achieve a desired level of image resolution, including:
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acquiring low-collimation nuclear scan data of an object; determining a size of the object; identifying an object size-dependent filter function for application to a reconstructed image of the object based on the object size and the desired image resolution; performing a number of reconstruction iterations to reconstruct a nuclear image of the object; applying the object size-dependent filter function during reconstruction to enhance resolution; and storing the enhanced reconstructed image to memory. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification