Quantitative planar imaging method for measurement of renal activity by using a conjugate-emission image and transmission data

The effect of volume-of-interest misregistration on quantitative planar activity and dose estimation

In targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT), dose estimation is essential for treatment planning and tumor dose response studies. Dose estimates are typically based on a time series of whole-body conjugate view planar or SPECT scans of the patient acquired after administration of a planning dose. Quantifying the activity in the organs from these studies is an essential part of dose estimation. The quantitative planar (QPlanar) processing method involves accurate compensation for image degrading factors and correction for organ and background overlap via the combination of computational models of the image formation process and 3D volumes of interest defining the organs to be quantified. When the organ VOIs are accurately defined, the method intrinsically compensates for attenuation, scatter and partial volume effects, as well as overlap with other organs and the background. However, alignment between the 3D organ volume of interest (VOIs) used in QPlanar processing and the true organ projections in the planar images is required. The aim of this research was to study the effects of VOI misregistration on the accuracy and precision of organ activity estimates obtained using the QPlanar method. In this work, we modeled the degree of residual misregistration that would be expected after an automated registration procedure by randomly misaligning 3D SPECT/CT images, from which the VOI information was derived, and planar images. Mutual information-based image registration was used to align the realistic simulated 3D SPECT images with the 2D planar images. The residual image misregistration was used to simulate realistic levels of misregistration and allow investigation of the effects of misregistration on the accuracy and precision of the QPlanar method. We observed that accurate registration is especially important for small organs or ones with low activity concentrations compared to neighboring organs. In addition, residual misregistration gave rise to a loss of precision in the activity estimates that was on the order of the loss of precision due to Poisson noise in the projection data. These results serve as a lower bound on the effects of misregistration on the accuracy and precision of QPlanar activity estimate and demonstrate that misregistration errors must be taken into account when assessing the overall precision of organ dose estimates.

Accurate scatter correction for transmission computed tomography using an uncollimated line array source

We investigated scatter correction in transmission computed tomography (TCT) imaging by the combination of an uncollimated transmission source and a parallel-hole collimator. We employed the triple energy window (TEW) as the scatter correction and found that the conventional TEW method, which is accurate in emission computed tomography (ECT) imaging, needs some modification in TCT imaging based on our phantom studies. In this study a Tc-99m uncollimated line array source (area: 55 cm x 40 cm) was attached to one camera head of a dual-head gamma camera as a transmission source, and TCT data were acquired with a low-energy, general purpose (LEGP), parallel-hole collimator equipped on the other camera head. The energy spectra for 140 keV-photons transmitted through various attenuating material thicknesses were measured and analyzed for scatter fraction. The results of the energy spectra showed that the photons transmitted had an energy distribution that constructs a scatter peak within the 140 keV-photopeak energy window. In TCT imaging with a cylindrical water phantom, the conventional TEW method with triangle estimates (subtraction factor, K = 0.5) was not sufficient for accurate scatter correction (micro = 0.131 cm(-1) for water), whereas the modified TEW method with K = 1.0 gave the accurate attenuation coefficient of 0.153 cm(-1) for water. For the TCT imaging with the combination of the uncollimated Tc-99m line array source and parallel hole collimator, the modified TEW method with K = 1.0 gives the accurate TCT data for quantitative SPECT imaging in comparison with the conventional TEW method with K = 0.5.