Configuration optimization for multi-pinhole micro-SPECT systems by signal detection tasks and system performance evaluations

An optimized multi-pinhole aperture can improve the spatial resolution and the sensitivity of pinhole SPECT system simultaneously. In this study, an optimization strategy of the multi-pinhole configuration is proposed, including the preliminary evaluations by geometric analytic models and the system performance evaluations by a simulated human observer, the Fourier crosstalk approach and tomographic image reconstructions. According to the resulting AUC, sensitivity, spatial resolution and reconstructions, a 4-pinhole aperture with 20% multiplexing and 1.52X magnification is the optimized configuration for a micro pinhole-SPECT with a camera with an active area of 49 × 49 mm² and a 14-mm diameter spherical field-of-view.