Methods and systems for reconstructing a positron emission tomography image

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12299780-B2
Application number	US-202117237975-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2021
Priority date	Apr 22, 2021
Publication date	May 13, 2025
Grant date	May 13, 2025

Abstract

An apparatus for reconstructing a positron emission tomography (PET) image, comprising processing circuitry configured to extract, from raw data obtained from a PET scanner, energy data and timing data associated with a plurality of annihilation events, the extracted energy data and the extracted timing data for each annihilation event corresponding to interactions between each of a pair of gamma rays generated by each annihilation event and one or more gamma ray detectors of the PET scanner, classify each annihilation event based on respective extracted energy data and respective extracted timing data, determine, for each annihilation event and based on a calculated timing resolution of the annihilation event, a width of a time-of-flight kernel, and reconstruct, by processing circuitry, the PET image based on the obtained raw data from the PET scanner and the determined width of the time-of-flight kernel associated with each annihilation event.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for reconstructing a positron emission tomography image, comprising:
processing circuitry configured to
extract, from raw data obtained from a positron emission tomography scanner, energy data and timing data associated with a plurality of annihilation events, the extracted energy data and the extracted timing data for each annihilation event corresponding to interactions between each of a pair of gamma rays generated by each annihilation event and one or more gamma ray detectors of the positron emission tomography scanner,
classify each annihilation event based on respective extracted energy data and respective extracted timing data,
calculate a timing resolution for each annihilation event based on the classification,
determine, for each annihilation event and based on the calculated timing resolution of the annihilation event, a width of a time-of-flight kernel, and
reconstruct, by processing circuitry, the positron emission tomography image based on the obtained raw data from the positron emission tomography scanner and the determined width of the time-of-flight kernel associated with each annihilation event,

wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to classify each annihilation event by determining, from the respective extracted energy data and the respective extracted timing data, a quantity of the one or more gamma ray detectors impacted by each of the pair of gamma rays generated by the annihilation event,
wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to classify the annihilation event as a single-crystal event, a multi-crystal event, or a hybrid-crystal event based on the determined quantity of the one or more gamma ray detectors impacted by each gamma ray of the pair of gamma rays generated by the annihilation event,
wherein the single-crystal event is a photoelectric event, the multi-crystal event is a scattering event, and the hybrid-crystal event is a combination thereof, and
wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to. when the classification indicates an annihilation event is a hybrid-crystal event, calculate the timing resolution by a convolution of a timing resolution associated with a single-crystal event and a timing resolution associated with a multi-crystal event.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each annihilation event includes interactions of gamma rays with the one or more gamma ray detectors during a predetermined time period.

3. A method for reconstructing a positron emission tomography image, comprising:
extracting, by processing circuitry and from raw data obtained from a positron emission tomography scanner, energy data and timing data associated with a plurality of annihilation events, the extracted energy data and the extracted timing data for each annihilation event corresponding to interactions between each of a pair of gamma rays generated by each annihilation event and one or more gamma ray detectors of the positron emission tomography scanner;
classifying, by the processing circuitry, each annihilation event based on respective extracted energy data and respective extracted timing data;
calculating, by the processing circuitry, a timing resolution for each annihilation event based on the classification;
determining, by the processing circuitry and for each annihilation event, a width of a time-of-flight kernel; and
reconstructing, by the processing circuitry, the positron emission tomography image based on the obtained raw data from the positron emission tomography scanner and the determined width of the time-of-flight kernel associated with each annihilation event,
wherein the classifying includes, for each annihilation event:
determining, by the processing circuitry and from the respective extracted energy data and the respective extracted timing data, a quantity of the one or more gamma ray detectors impacted by each gamma ray of the pair of the gamma rays generated by the annihilation event,

wherein the classifying classifies the annihilation event as a single-crystal event, a multi-crystal event, or a hybrid-crystal event based on the determined quantity of the one or more gamma ray detectors impacted by each gamma ray of the pair of gamma rays generated by the annihilation event,
wherein the single-crystal event is a photoelectric event, the multi-crystal event is a scattering event, and the hybrid-crystal event is a combination thereof, and
wherein the calculating includes, when the classifying indicates an annihilation event is a hybrid-crystal event, calculating the timing resolution by a convolution of a timing resolution associated with a single-crystal event and a timing resolution associated with a multi-crystal event.

4. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for reconstructing a positron emission tomography image, comprising:
extracting, from raw data obtained from a positron emission tomography scanner, energy data and timing data associated with a plurality of annihilation events, the extracted energy data and the extracted timing data for each annihilation event corresponding to interactions between each of a pair of gamma rays generated by each annihilation event and one or more gamma ray detectors of the positron emission tomography scanner; classifying each annihilation event based on respective extracted energy data and respective extracted timing data;
calculating a timing resolution for each annihilation event based on the classification;
determining, for each annihilation event and based on the calculated timing resolution of the annihilation event, a width of a time-of-flight kernel; and
reconstructing the positron emission tomography image based on the obtained raw data from the positron emission tomography scanner and the determined width of the time-of-flight kernel associated with each annihilation event,
wherein the classifying includes, for each annihilation event:
determining, from the respective extracted energy data and the respective extracted timing data, a quantity of the one or more gamma ray detectors impacted by each of the pair of gamma rays generated by the annihilation event,

wherein the classifying classifies the annihilation event as a single-crystal event, a multi-crystal event, or a hybrid-crystal event based on the determined quantity of the one or more gamma ray detectors impacted by each of the pair of gamma rays generated by the annihilation event,
wherein the single-crystal event is a photoelectric event, the multi-crystal event is a scattering event, and the hybrid-crystal event is a combination thereof, and
wherein the calculating includes, when the classification indicates an annihilation event is a hybrid-crystal event, calculating the timing resolution by a convolution of a timing resolution associated with a single-crystal event and a timing resolution associated with a multi-crystal event.

Assignees

• Canon Medical Systems Corp

Inventors

• Peng Peng
• Qiang Yi
• Qi Wenyuan
• Li Xiaoli
• Yang Li

Classifications

• G06T12/20 Primary

  Inverse problem, i.e. transformations from projection space into object space · CPC title

• A61B6/037 Primary

  Emission tomography · CPC title

• G06T2207/10081

  Computed x-ray tomography [CT] · CPC title

• G06T2207/10104

  Positron emission tomography [PET] · CPC title

• G06T7/0012

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title