Attenuation effects in gamma-camera coincidence imaging

Author

Laymon, C.M. ; Turkington, T.G. ; Coleman, R.E.

Author_Institution

Duke Univ. Med. Center, Durham, NC, USA

Volume

45

Issue

6

fYear

1998

fDate

12/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

3115

Lastpage

3121

Abstract

Images produced by gamma camera coincidence (GCC) techniques have a much lower count-density than those produced by dedicated PET scanners. The authors examine the effects of attenuation and attenuation correction on GCC images using gamma-camera emission data and PET emission and transmission data from phantom and human studies. The effects studied include contrast, noise, and general image quality. Results show that lung lesion contrast is improved but the signal-to-noise ratio is slightly degraded by the application of attenuation correction. Additionally, the corrected images do not contain the distortions of the uncorrected images and they more accurately show the activity distribution of the imaged object. The noise studies suggest that statistically appropriate transmission data for implementing an attenuation correction can be acquired in a small fraction of the time used for an emission scan

Keywords

gamma-ray absorption; lung; positron emission tomography; radioisotope imaging; PET; attenuation effects; corrected images; gamma-camera coincidence imaging; image distortions; lung lesion contrast; medical diagnostic imaging; nuclear medicine; statistically appropriate transmission data; uncorrected images; Attenuation; Cameras; Humans; Image quality; Imaging phantoms; Lesions; Lungs; Optical imaging; Positron emission tomography; Signal to noise ratio;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.737673

Filename

737673