Iterative tomographic image reconstruction using Fourier-based forward and back-projectors

Iterative image reconstruction algorithms play an increasingly important role in modern tomographic systems, especially in emission tomography. With the fast increase of the sizes of the tomographic data, reduction of the computation demands of the reconstruction algorithms is of great importance. Fourier-based forward and back-projection methods have the potential to considerably reduce the computation time in iterative reconstruction. Additional substantial speed-tip of those approaches can be obtained utilizing powerful and cheap off-the-shelf FFT processing hardware. The Fourier reconstruction approaches are based on the relationship between the Fourier transform or the image and Fourier transformation of the parallel-ray projections. The critical two steps are the estimations of the samples of the projection transform, on the central section through the origin of Fourier space, from the samples of the transform of the image, and vice versa for back-projection. Interpolation errors are a limitation of Fourier-based reconstruction methods. We have applied min-max optimized Kaiser-Bessel interpolation within the nonuniform Fast Fourier transform (NUFFT) framework. This approach is particularly well suited to the geometries of PET scanners. Numerical and computer simulation results show that the min-max NUFFT approach provides substantially lower approximation errors in tomographic forward and back-projection than conventional interpolation methods, and that it is a viable candidate for fast iterative image reconstruction.