An evaluation of various analytic reconstruction algorithms and implementations for 2D and 3D PET

Effects of the application, and implementation, of various reconstruction algorithms to 2D and 3D PET data were studied. Results were compared based on the performance of each method when subjected to the NEMA performance tests for resolution, scatter correction accuracy, and uniformity. An independent measurement of the coefficient of variation for a uniform cylinder was also made. Resulting data was reconstructed using each of the ECAT 7.1, STIR, and ECAT 7.2 software packages. Two implementations of the STIR software were investigated, STIR-INT1 which backprojects the original sinograms, and STIR-INT2 which first interpolates the sinograms to have equal bin and voxel sizes. Behaviour of the spatial resolution and CV in terms of varying pixel size was attributed to both the method of backprojector implementation and the reconstruction algorithm (FORE vs. 3DRP). An understanding of the method for reconstruction is important in understanding image quality, and selecting a pixel size for clinical use