METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DATA SELECTION FOR POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRPAHY (PET) IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION

• US 20140276029A1
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Wollenweber, Scott David, Bonner, Michael George, Cook, Michael Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 9,078,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/428
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/037 Emission tomography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/466 adapted to display 3D data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5264 due to motion
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5288 involving retrospective matching to a physiological signal

Abstract

A method for selecting data to reconstruct a three-dimensional (3D) image of a subject of interest includes acquiring a 3D emission dataset of the subject of interest, acquiring a respiratory signal of the subject of interest, the respiratory signal including a plurality of respiratory cycles, and calculating a respiratory profile using the respiratory signal. The method further includes, for each respiratory cycle, generating a gating window, calculating a minimum total squared difference (TSD) between a plurality of phases in the respiratory profile and the same plurality of phases in the respiratory cycle, and positioning the gating window based on the TSD values calculated, and reconstructing a 3D image using only the emission data within the plurality of gated windows. A system and non-transitory computer readable medium are also described herein.

Claims

1. A method for selecting data to reconstruct a three-dimensional (3D) image of a subject of interest, said method comprising:

acquiring a 3D emission dataset of the subject of interest;

acquiring a respiratory signal of the subject of interest, the respiratory signal including a plurality of respiratory cycles;

calculating a respiratory profile using the respiratory signal;

for each respiratory cycle, generating a gating window, calculating a minimum total squared difference (TSD) between a plurality of phases in the respiratory profile and the same plurality of phases in the respiratory cycle, and positioning the gating window based on the TSD values calculated; and

reconstructing a 3D image using only the emission data within the plurality of gated windows.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising positioning the gating window using information derived from an offset window.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the offset window further comprises a plurality of steps, said method further comprising, for each respiratory cycle, calculating the TSDs values for each step in the offset window;

and selecting the minimum TSD value from the calculated TSD values.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an offset window;

dividing the offset window into a plurality of steps;

determining a TSD for each of the plurality of steps;

selecting the minimum TSD from the plurality of determined TSDs; and

positioning the gating window at the selected minimum TSD.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an offset window;

determining a plurality of TSDs within the offset window; and

positioning a first side of the gating window at the minimum TSD.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the respiratory profile comprises:

generating a plurality of respiratory cycles; and

calculating a mean value of the plurality of respiratory cycles.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the gating window has a first side, a second side, and a width, the width being less than a length of the respiratory cycle.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising

determining an average TSD value;

comparing the TSD values to the average TSD value; and

rejecting data based on the comparison.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring a 3D Positron Emission Tomography (PET) dataset of the subject of interest; and

reconstructing a 3D PET image using a portion of the PET dataset.

10. An imaging system comprising:

a detector; and

a computer coupled to the detector, the computer being programmed to;

acquire a 3D emission dataset of the subject of interest;

acquire a respiratory signal of the subject of interest, the respiratory signal including a plurality of respiratory cycles;

calculate a respiratory profile using the respiratory signal;

for each respiratory cycle, generate a gating window, calculate a minimum total squared difference (TSD) between a plurality of phases in the respiratory profile and the same plurality of phases in the respiratory cycle, and position the gating window based on the TSD values calculated; and

reconstruct a 3D image using only the emission data within the plurality of gated windows.

11. The imaging system of claim 10, wherein the computer is further programmed to position the gating window using information derived from an offset window.

12. The imaging system of claim 11, wherein the offset window further comprises a plurality of steps, the computer is further programmed to, for each respiratory cycle, calculate a TSDs value for each step in the offset window, and select the minimum TSD value from the calculated TSD values.

13. The imaging system of claim 10, wherein the computer is further programmed to:

generate an offset window;

divide the offset window into a plurality of steps;

determine a TSD for each of the plurality of steps; and

positioning the gating window at the TSD having the minimum value.

14. The imaging system of claim 10, wherein the computer is further programmed to:

generate an offset window;

determine a plurality of TSDs within the offset window; and

position a first side of the gating window at the minimum TSD.

15. The imaging system of claim 10, wherein the computer is further programmed to:

generate a plurality of respiratory cycles; and

calculate a mean value of the plurality of respiratory cycles.

16. The imaging system of claim 10, wherein the gating window has a first side, a second side, and a width, the width being less than a length of the respiratory cycle.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with a program programmed to instruct a computer to:

acquire a 3D emission dataset of the subject of interest;

acquire a respiratory signal of the subject of interest, the respiratory signal including a plurality of respiratory cycles;

calculate a respiratory profile using the respiratory signal;

for each respiratory cycle, generate a gating window, calculate a minimum total squared difference (TSD) between a plurality of phases in the respiratory profile and the same plurality of phases in the respiratory cycle, and position the gating window such that the TSD is minimized; and

reconstruct a 3D image using only the emission data within the plurality of gated windows.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, further programmed to instruct a computer to position the gating window using information derived from an offset window.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, further programmed to instruct a computer to:

divide the offset window into a plurality of steps;

calculate a TSDs value for each step in the offset window; and

select the minimum TSD value from the calculated TSD values.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, further programmed to instruct a computer to:

generate an offset window;

determine a plurality of TSDs within the offset window; and

position a first side of the gating window at the minimum TSD.