Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.v.

Philips Intellectual Property & Standards Gmbh

Andreas Goedicke

Andre Frank Salomon

Herfried Karl Wieczorek

Chuanyong Bai

Andriy Andreyev

Bin Zhang

Zhiqiang Hu

Ralf Dorscheid

Michael Grass

Thomas Frach

Jinghan Ye

Lingxiong Shao

Xiyun Song

Horace H Hines

Karin Klabunde

Sven Prevrhal

Bernd Schweizer

Rolf Dieter Bippus

Pedro Jorge Da Silva Rodrigues

Peter Lex Alving

Manoj Narayanan

Patrick Olivier

Michael Schaaf

Angela Da Silva

Andreia Maria Araujo Trindade Rodrigues

Henrik Botterweck

Yu-Lung Hsieh

Yanfei Mao

Hongjie Liang

Thomas Dey

Anna Exner

Michael Schaff

Guido Müsch

Herfried Wieczorek

The invention refers to an apparatus that allows to improve the image quality of nuclear images, e.g. PET images. The apparatus () comprises a providing unit () for providing nuclear image data of a region of interest, a providing unit () for providing a motion signal indicative of a motion of the region of interest, a determination unit () for determining different motion states of the region of interest based on the motion signal, a determination unit () for determining for each motion state nuclear image data corresponding to the motion state, a reconstruction unit () for reconstructing an absorption map for each motion state based on the corresponding nuclear image data of the respective motion state, and a reconstruction unit () for reconstructing one or more nuclear images of the region of interest based on the nuclear image data and the absorption maps reconstructed for each motion state.

Apparatus, system, method and computer program for providing a nuclear image of a region of interest of a patient

A non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions readable and executable by at least one electronic processor () to perform an imaging method (). The method includes: reconstructing emission imaging data to generate an emission image of a lesion; converting intensity values of the emission image to at least one standardized uptake value (SUV value) for the lesion; processing input data using a regression neural network (NN) () to output an SUV correction factor for the lesion, wherein the input data includes at least two of (i) image data comprising the emission image or a feature vector representing the emission image, (ii) the at least one SUV value, (iii) a size of the lesion, and (iv) reconstruction parameters used in the reconstructing; and controlling a display device () to display at least one of (I) the SUV correction factor and (II) a corrected SUV value generated by applying the SUV correction factor to the at least one SUV value.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based standardized uptake value (SUV) correction and variation assessment for positron emission tomography (PET)

Imaging data () are acquired by a PET scanner () or other imaging device. Iterative image reconstruction of the imaging data is performed to generate a reconstructed image (). The iterative image reconstruction includes performing an update step () that includes an edge preserving prior () having a spatially varying edge preservation threshold () whose value at each image voxel depends on a noise metric () in a local neighborhood of the image voxel. The noise metric may be computed as an aggregation of the intensities of neighborhood image voxels of the reconstructed image in the local neighborhood of the image voxel. The edge preserving prior may be a Relative Difference Prior (RDP). For further noise suppression, during the iterative image reconstruction image values of image features of the reconstructed image that have spatial extent smaller than a threshold () may be reduced.

Information-adaptive regularization for iterative image reconstruction

A respiratory motion signal generation method operates on emission data () of an imaging subject in an imaging field of view (FOV) acquired by a positron emission tomography (PET) or single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging device (). An array of regions () is defined in the imaging FOV without reference to anatomy of the imaging subject. For each region of the array of regions defined in the imaging FOV, an activity position versus time curve () is computed from the emission data acquired by the PET or SPECT imaging device. Frequency-selective filtering of the activity position versus time curves is performed to generate filtered activity position versus time curves. At least one motion signal () is generated by combining the filtered activity position versus time curves of at least a selected sub-set of the regions.

Noise-robust real-time extraction of the respiratory motion signal from PET list-data

A time of flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET) image () is generated from TOF PET imaging data () acquired of a subject using a TOF PET imaging data acquisition device (). Iterative image reconstruction () of the TOF PET imaging data is performed with TOF localization of counts along respective lines of response (LORs) to iteratively update a reconstructed image (). Values for at least one regularization or filtering parameter are assigned to the TOF PET imaging data or to voxels of the reconstructed image based on an estimated TOF localization resolution for the TOF PET imaging data or voxels. Regularization () or filtering () of the reconstructed image is performed using the assigned values for the at least one regularization or filtering parameter. In some embodiments, the varying TOF localization resolution for the TOF PET imaging data or voxels is estimated based on related acquisition characteristics such as count rates or operating temperature of the detectors.

Time-of-flight resolution-adaptive image regularization and filtering in positron emission tomography

The invention relates to a device () for standard uptake value, SUV, determination during an emission tomography imaging procedure of a patient. The device receives SUV-related data required for SUV determination, and event data relating to one or more events that may affect the SUV determination. The SUV-related data includes a time of administration of the radiotracer dose to the patient. The event data includes at least one of: a time at which an emission tomography imaging procedure of the patient is performed, patient motion data, patient position data, and patient vital signs data. An anomalous event determination unit () determines, based on the event data, anomalous event information indicative of one or more anomalous events that affect the SUV determination. An SUV determination unit () determines the SUV based on said SUV-related data taking into account the anomalous event information.

Determining standard uptake value (SUV) in emission tomography imaging using SUV-related data and event data

Patient imaging systems, such as PET imaging systems, for example, may suffer from the introduction of artificially introduced noise. This noise is, typically, introduced during iterations of reconstruction algorithms, such as the least-squares algorithms, which attempts to recreate a 2D or a 3D image from raw acquisition information. The noise appears as 'hot-spots' in the reconstructed image. Approaches to address these artefacts use filtering approaches. Typically, a least-squares reconstruction is supplemented with a penalty term, an approach known as 'Relative Difference Penalty'. The penalty parameter causes the reconstruction algorithm to filter more or less strongly at certain regions of the reconstruction. The present application proposes an approach which supplements the penalty term with continuous probability information about the likelihood of an edge being present in a portion of an image.

Medical image processing

The invention relates to a combined imaging detector () for the detection of x-ray and gamma quanta. The combined imaging detector () is adapted for simultaneous detection of gamma and x-ray quanta. The combined imaging detector () includes an x-ray anti-scatter grid (), a layer of x-ray scintillator elements (), a first photodetector array (), a layer of gamma scintillator elements (), and a second photodetector array () that are arranged in a stacked configuration along a radiation-receiving direction (). The x-ray anti-scatter grid () comprises a plurality of septa () that define a plurality of apertures () which are configured to collimate both x-ray quanta and gamma quanta received from the radiation receiving direction () such that received gamma quanta are collimated only by the x-ray anti-scatter grid (). The use of the x-ray anti-scatter grid as a collimator for received gamma quanta results in a significantly lighter combined imaging detector.

Combined X-ray and nuclear imaging

A method of image reconstruction corrected for attenuation is provided for use with radioemission-based imaging, such as SPECT and PET. This method includes collecting measured emission projection data. The emission projection data, a reconstruction of the emission projection data, and a priori organ information are collectively analyzed to generate a body region estimate of the imaged subject. Each voxel of the body region estimate is then homogenously assigned an attenuation coefficient to generate an initial attenuation map estimate. An initial emission assumption is also generated based on a reconstruction of the emission projection data. The initial emission assumption and initial attenuation map estimate are then processed and refined to produce an image reconstruction.

Apparatus and method for generation of attenuation map

A radiation planning system includes a dose volume kernel determiner () and an expected absorbed dose determiner (). The dose volume kernel determiner () generates a dose volume kernel for each of a plurality of voxels in a dose calculation grid. Each of the dose volume kernels is based on a radial dose distribution and a template function for a particular voxel size. The expected absorbed dose determiner () determines an expected absorbed dose distribution for each of the plurality of voxels based on the dose volume kernel.

Dose-volume kernel generation

An anatomical image data set and an emission image data set are acquired for a subject. An attenuation map is generated from the anatomical image data set. The emission image data set is reconstructed to generate an emission image. The reconstructing includes correcting for attenuation of emission radiation in the subject using the attenuation map. A value is calculated for a quality assurance (QA) metric quantifying alignment of the attenuation map with the emission image. The emission image is displayed or printed together with the calculated quality assurance metric. In some embodiments, prior to the reconstructing the attenuation map is registered with the emission image data set by performing a global rigid registration followed by a local non-rigid registration of a region of interest.

Dual modality imaging including quality metrics

A detector arrangement providing imaging information at the edge of the scintillator is provided. The detector arrangement provides complete information and improved spatial resolution. SiPMs can be used in place of PMTs in order to provide the geometrical coverage of the scintillator and improved spatial resolution. With such detector arrangements, the spatial resolution can be under 2 mm. Furthermore, the overall thickness of the detector can be substantially reduced and depth of interaction resolution is also improved.

High resolution medical imaging detector

In a disclosed imaging method, the instantaneous speed or data acquisition dwell times of a detector head is optimized as a function of position along a path of the detector head around a subject. The optimization is respective to an expected radioactive emission profile of a region of interest that is less than the entire subject. The detector head is traversed along the path using the optimized instantaneous speed or data acquisition dwell times. During the traversing, imaging data are acquired using the detector head. The acquired imaging data are reconstructed to generate a reconstructed image of at least the region of interest. A gamma camera configured to perform the foregoing imaging method is also disclosed.

Cardiac SPECT system with trajectory optimization

In a disclosed imaging method, the instantaneous speed or data acquisition dwell times of a detector head () is optimized as a function of position along a path (P) of the detector head around a subject (S, SS, SXL). The optimization is respective to an expected radioactive emission profile (EPROI) of a region of interest (H, HS, HXL) that is less than the entire subject. The detector head is traversed along the path using the optimized instantaneous speed or data acquisition dwell times (). During the traversing, imaging data are acquired using the detector head. The acquired imaging data are reconstructed to generate a reconstructed image of at least the region of interest. A gamma camera () configured to perform the foregoing imaging method is also disclosed.

An imaging system () includes at least one radiation detector unit () disposed adjacent a field of view () to detect and measure radiation from the field of view (). The detector unit () includes multiple detection modules () which each detects radiation from a prespecified region of the field of view (), each region being a fraction of the field of view. One or more pinholes () are associated with the detector unit (). Each pinhole () receives radiation from the prespecified region of the field of view () and transmits radiation to one or more associated detection modules ().

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Aachen, Germany

Andreas Goedicke