Use of an optical flow algorithm to quantify and correct patient motion during tomographic acquisition

We have developed an automatic procedure for the detection, quantification and correction of translational motion during single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT). The method computes the optical flow vector field between two successive views. The optical flow vector field assigns to each pixel of a tomographic view a two dimensional velocity that describes its motion across the image plane between two successive views. Motion can be corrected by shifting the moved views back by the amount of the measured motion distance. The method is applied to human studies where obvious motion was detected from visual inspection of a rotating cine display. Visually artifactual perfusion defects are eliminated after motion correction. The optical flow method can accurately detect the presence of motion, localize the camera angle at which motion occurred and measure the distance of motion