Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a functional imaging modality widely used in oncology, cardiology, and neurology. It is highly sensitive, but suffers from relatively poor spatial resolution, as compared with anatomical imaging modalities, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). With the recent development of combined PET/MR systems, we can improve the PET image quality by incorporating MR information. Previously we have used kernel learning to embed MR information in static PET reconstruction and direct Patlak reconstruction. Here we extend this method to direct reconstruction of nonlinear parameters in a compartment model by using the alternating direction of multiplier method (ADMM) algorithm. Simulation studies show that the proposed method can produce superior parametric images compared with existing methods.

Date Published: 9 March 2017
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 10132, Medical Imaging 2017: Physics of Medical Imaging, 101321G (9 March 2017);

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10132:
Medical Imaging 2017: Physics of Medical Imaging
Thomas G. Flohr; Joseph Y. Lo; Taly Gilat Schmidt, Editor(s)