Transmission-based scatter correction of 180° myocardial single-photon emission tomographic studies

Meaningful comparison of single-photon emission tomographic (SPET) reconstructions for data acquired over 180° or 360° can only be performed if both attenuation and scatter correction are applied. Convolution subtraction has appeal as a practical method for scatter correction; however, it is limited to data acquired over 360°. A new algorithm is proposed which can be applied equally well to data acquired over 180° or 360°. The method involves estimating scatter based on knowledge of reconstructed transmission data in combination with a reconstructed estimate of the activity distribution, obtained using attenuation correction with broad beam attenuation coefficients. Processing is implemented for planes of activity parallel to the projection images for which a simplified model for the scatter distribution may be applied, based on the measured attenuation. The appropriate broad beam (effective) attenuation coefficients were determined by considering the scatter buildup equation. It was demonstrated that narrow beam attenuation coefficients should be scaled by 0.75 and 0.65 to provide broad beam attenuation coefficients for technetium-99m and thallium-201 respectively. Using a thorax phantom, quantitative accuracy of the new algorithm was compared with conventional transmission-based convolution subtraction (TDCS) for 360° data. Similar heart to lung contrasts were achieved and correction of 180° data yielded a 10.4% error for cardiac activity compared to 5.2% for TDCS. Contrast for myocardium to ventricular cavity was similarly good for scatter-corrected 180° and 360° data, in contrast to attenuation-corrected data, where contrast was significantly reduced. The new algorithm provides a practical method for correction of scatter applicable to 180° myocardial SPET.