Parameter Estimation for Dynamic Studies in Emission-Tomography Systems Having List-Mode Data

Maximum-likelihood parameter estimation for dynamic tracer-studies is investigated for emission-tomography systems having time-of-flight measurements in the form of list-mode data. It is shown how the EM iterative algorithm of statistics can be used to estimate compartmental parameters just as it is also used to reconstruct images of activity distributions. Retrospective processing of list-mode data for dynamic studies requires that the influence of each measurement point to the region of interest in the reconstructed images be identified; a procedure for accomplishing this is given.