학술논문

Direct Reconstruction of Linear Parametric Images From Dynamic PET Using Nonlocal Deep Image Prior
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging IEEE Trans. Med. Imaging Medical Imaging, IEEE Transactions on. 41(3):680-689 Mar, 2022
Subject
Bioengineering
Computing and Processing
Image reconstruction
Positron emission tomography
Kinetic theory
Imaging
Training
Mathematical models
Kernel
Direct reconstruction
dynamic PET
deep neural network
unsupervised learning
deep image prior
positron emission tomography
Language
ISSN
0278-0062
1558-254X
Abstract
Direct reconstruction methods have been developed to estimate parametric images directly from the measured PET sinograms by combining the PET imaging model and tracer kinetics in an integrated framework. Due to limited counts received, signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) and resolution of parametric images produced by direct reconstruction frameworks are still limited. Recently supervised deep learning methods have been successfully applied to medical imaging denoising/reconstruction when large number of high-quality training labels are available. For static PET imaging, high-quality training labels can be acquired by extending the scanning time. However, this is not feasible for dynamic PET imaging, where the scanning time is already long enough. In this work, we proposed an unsupervised deep learning framework for direct parametric reconstruction from dynamic PET, which was tested on the Patlak model and the relative equilibrium Logan model. The training objective function was based on the PET statistical model. The patient’s anatomical prior image, which is readily available from PET/CT or PET/MR scans, was supplied as the network input to provide a manifold constraint, and also utilized to construct a kernel layer to perform non-local feature denoising. The linear kinetic model was embedded in the network structure as a ${1} \times {1} \times {1}$ convolution layer. Evaluations based on dynamic datasets of 18 F-FDG and 11 C-PiB tracers show that the proposed framework can outperform the traditional and the kernel method-based direct reconstruction methods.