The goal of the proposed research is to develop computationally efficient image-reconstruction methods to improve the quality of cardiac-perfusion image sequences obtained by gated single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Methods for reconstruction of a single, static tomographic image have been thoroughly investigated over the past 20 years, but relatively little attention has been paid to the specific problem of image-sequence reconstruction. Currently, image sequences are computed, one image frame at a time, by methods designed for the reconstruction of static images. This approach is highly suboptimal because it fails to take into account the strong statistical correlations that exist among the image frames. We propose that image quality can be substantially improved by treating an image sequence, not as a set of individual frames, but as a single four-dimensional (4D) signal, described by the three spatial dimensions, plus time. We expect this approach to produce cardiac perfusion images that are more accurate, and less noisy, than those obtained currently. In the proposed project, a collection of new, 4D image-reconstruction techniques will be developed, implemented, and evaluated. The objective of the research is to improve the image quality achieved by gated cardiac SPECT, and thus improve its accuracy in the detection and evaluation of coronary artery disease. The results will be evaluated by using measures of diagnostic task performance based on human and machine observers. Specifically, improvements will be judged based on performance measures related to perfusion defect detection, wall motion, wall thickening, and ejection fraction. Although the research will focus on cardiac SPECT, the techniques developed are expected to be applicable to other nuclear medicine applications, and image-sequence processing for other imaging modalities.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HL065425-03
Application #
6527340
Study Section
Diagnostic Imaging Study Section (DMG)
Program Officer
Buxton, Denis B
Project Start
2000-08-01
Project End
2004-07-31
Budget Start
2002-08-01
Budget End
2003-07-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$288,053
Indirect Cost
Name
Illinois Institute of Technology
Department
Engineering (All Types)
Type
Schools of Engineering
DUNS #
City
Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60616
Marin, Thibault; Kalayeh, Mahdi M; Parages, Felipe M et al. (2014) Numerical Surrogates for Human Observers in Myocardial Motion Evaluation From SPECT Images. IEEE Trans Med Imaging 33:38-47
Kalayeh, Mahdi M; Marin, Thibault; Brankov, Jovan G (2013) Generalization Evaluation of Machine Learning Numerical Observers for Image Quality Assessment. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci 60:1609-1618
Brankov, Jovan G (2013) Evaluation of the channelized Hotelling observer with an internal-noise model in a train-test paradigm for cardiac SPECT defect detection. Phys Med Biol 58:7159-82
Niu, Xiaofeng; Yang, Yongyi; King, Michael A (2012) Comparison study of temporal regularization methods for fully 5D reconstruction of cardiac gated dynamic SPECT. Phys Med Biol 57:5523-42
Qi, Wenyuan; Yang, Yongyi; Niu, Xiaofeng et al. (2012) A quantitative study of motion estimation methods on 4D cardiac gated SPECT reconstruction. Med Phys 39:5182-93
Niu, Xiaofeng; Yang, Yongyi (2011) Tomographic reconstruction of gated data acquisition using DFT basis functions. IEEE Trans Image Process 20:176-85
Massanes, Francesc; Cadennes, Marie; Brankov, Jovan G (2011) Compute-unified device architecture implementation of a block-matching algorithm for multiple graphical processing unit cards. J Electron Imaging 20:
Niu, Xiaofeng; Yang, Yongyi; Jin, Mingwu et al. (2011) Effects of motion, attenuation, and scatter corrections on gated cardiac SPECT reconstruction. Med Phys 38:6571-84
Marin, Thibault; Brankov, Jovan G (2010) Deformable left-ventricle mesh model for motion-compensated filtering in cardiac gated SPECT. Med Phys 37:5471-81
Li, Ling; Yang, Yongyi (2010) Optical flow estimation for a periodic image sequence. IEEE Trans Image Process 19:1-10

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