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PET/MR: improvement of the UTE μ-maps using modified MLAA
EJNMMI Physics volume 2, Article number: A58 (2015)
For a quantitative analysis in positron emission tomography (PET) or single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), attenuation correction (AC) is mandatory. CTscans or transmission scans are common tools for determination of the attenuation μ-map, but in the case of a PET/MR hybrid system it is difficult to associate one of these scans. Many techniques have been developed in order to improve AC for PET/MR. Some methods are based on template- or atlas techniques, other methods apply a segmentation technique based on Dixon or UTE (Ultrashort Echo Time) MR to create the μ-map, followed by a standard OSEM reconstruction (OSEM/DIXON and OSEM/UTE). A different approach for AC has been developed by employing the emission sinogram data in the μ-map derivation. In this context, we modified the iterative MLAA (Maximum-Likelihood reconstruction of Attenuation and Activity) algorithm to improve the resulting emission image from the PET/MR system. We constrained the attenuation map update using the UTE μ-map and the T1-weighted (T1w) MR image in order to improve convergence towards a solution. Results show that the modified MLAA algorithm improved the estimated emission image compared to standard OSEM/UTE and OSEM/DIXON. In certain regions of the brain, in particular close to the skull and the air cavities, the modified MLAA algorithm generated less error than OSEM/UTE and OSEM/Dixon. The modified MLAA algorithm is able to compute an attenuation μ-map that is slightly more similar to the aligned CT μ-map than the UTE μ-map.
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Benoit, D., Ladefoged, C., Rezaei, A. et al. PET/MR: improvement of the UTE μ-maps using modified MLAA. EJNMMI Phys 2 (Suppl 1), A58 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/2197-7364-2-S1-A58
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/2197-7364-2-S1-A58