Scatter correction in planar imaging and SPECT by constrained factor analysis of dynamic structures (FADS)

Abstract

The removal of Compton scattered photons included within the pulse height window is recognized as one of the most difficult noise problems in the restoration of nuclear medicine images. A new approach to Compton scatter correction based on factor analysis of dynamic structures (FADS) is presented in this study. The method requires all of the energy information. Acquisition of data can be performed either by list-mode or frame-mode. While the former presents some theoretical advantages, the latter is actually used in this work. Two factors are extracted by FADS, unfortunately no pure photopeak factor can be found by the algorithm. These rough factors lead to incorrect factor images. The innovation reported here is the use of a constrained photopeak factor. This novel algorithm is evaluated both on planar imaging and SPECT data using Monte Carlo simulations and real phantoms. A comparison with the modified method of Jaszczak is also presented. Different parameters are significantly improved with our recombination method in SPECT studies, particularly after attenuation compensation by the iterative method of Chang. Compared with the subtraction method the contrast is increased by 1.5 for planar Monte Carlo simulations and the scatter fraction is reduced four times with our recombination method.