Distance weighting for improved tomographic reconstructions

An improved method for the reconstruction of emission computed axial tomography images has been developed. The method is a modification of filtered back-projection, where the back projected values are weighted to reflect the loss of formation, with distance from the camera, which is inherent in gamma camera imaging. This information loss is a result of: loss of spatial resolution with distance, attenuation, and scatter. The weighting scheme can best be described by considering the contributions of any two opposing views to the reconstruction image pixels. The weight applied to the projections of one view is set to equal the relative amount of the original activity that was initially received in that projection, assuming a uniform attenuating medium. This yields a weighting value which is a function of distance into the image with a value of one for pixels ''near the camera'', a value of .5 at the image center, and a value of zero on the opposite side. Tomographic reconstructions produced with this method show improved spatial resolution when compared to conventional 3600 reconstructions. The improvement is in the tangential direction, where simulations have indicated a FWHM improvement of 1 to 1.5 millimeters. The resolution in the radial direction is essentially the same for both methods. Visual inspection of the reconstructed images show improved resolution and contrast