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New 4D image reconstruction method improved image quality for cardiac-gated PET imaging
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A new molecular imaging technique using four-dimensional PET image reconstruction delivers sharper images of cardiac function with fewer hazy areas that are ordinarily found with other diagnostic imaging procedures, according to new data presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine’s 59th Annual Meeting.
Researchers used PET data from multiple cardiac stress tests and applied quantitative image data and a special algorithm to compensate for the rhythmic movements of the heart and lungs. The final outputs were eight cardiac-gated PET images reconstructed with both respiratory motion and cardiac motion compensation.
According to results, the 4D PET image reconstruction method, which compensated for respiratory and cardiac motion, improved myocardium-to-chamber contrast by 15%, compared with a conventional method without any motion compensation. The noise level of each 4D PET image reconstructed by the method of this research was also found to be 60% lower than cardiac-gated images reconstructed by the conventional method.
“People have previously worked on compensating for either cardiac or respiratory motion in image reconstruction in the past, but our research is the first viable reconstruction of a PET image with compensation for both cardiac and respiratory motion using all the PET data,” Si Chen, PhD, lead author and research scientist for the department of engineering physics at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, said in a press release.
“This research provides an opportunity to further improve the diagnostic accuracy of cardiac PET imaging, which can be exchanged to some degree for faster scanning and lower dose,” Chen said.
An estimated 2 to 3 years of research, including multiple phases of clinical evaluation, will need to be conducted before this technique can be rolled out for general clinical use, according to the researchers.
For more information:
Chen S. Scientific paper #106. Presented at: the Society of Nuclear Medicine’s 59th Annual Meeting; June 9-13, 2012; Miami Beach, Fla.
Disclosure: This study was supported by a grant from the NIH.