Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has long been used as a diagnostic tool in clinical medicine. Several recent results suggest that both a decrease in statistical uncertainty and a increase in spatial resolution of SPECT reconstructed images is possible. A major factor that limited statistical uncertainty and spatial resolution in clinical SPECT is its low photon count. Recent results has shown that the photon count can be increased when a large-field-of-view scintillation camera is collimated with a cone-beam collimator. The potential impact of this result on clinical medicine is compounded by the fact that recently substantial advantages have been made in cone-beam reconstruction. Focal point geometries are now known that are capable of measuring complete information about the object which is being reconstructed. Additionally, several novel exact reconstruction methods have been developed. The intent of the proposed research is to evaluate the performance of these novel reconstruction algorithms and focal point geometries for cone-beam reconstruction for application in SPECT. The evaluation will consist of computer simulations. Using computer simulation the novel reconstruction methods will be compared with themselves and with other methods that have recently been proposed. Simulations will also be used to investigate how different focal point geometries will effect the reconstructions that result.
