A new approach to three-dimensional image reconstruction in PET

A new method for three-dimensional image reconstruction in positron emission tomography (PET) was developed for a system consisting of two rotating scintillation cameras with a restricted axial field-of-view. The basic principle of the method is to organize the projection data so that 2-D reconstruction can be used. The method consists of a combination of analytical and algebraic algorithms including an iterative process with two-dimensional reconstruction of transaxial slices and deconvolution of a position dependent axial spread function. This method avoids the complex operation of 3-D backprojection, but can still utilize all the detected events and take advantage of the three-dimensional information. The method has been evaluated with Monte Carlo simulations and phantom measurements