A study on the evaluation of usefulness depending on the image reconstruction method in bone SPECT scan

The recent advances in image-processing techniques have led to the development of many methods to reduce the scan time without degrading the image quality. In particular, tomography has improved image reconstruction methods with the concomitant improvement of high-quality images. In this study, PRECEDENCE 16 was used to reconstruct images using the filtered back projection method, which is generally used, and the Astonish method and three-dimensional ordered-subsets expectation maximization method, which are based on repetition techniques. In qualitative and quantitative analysis of the reconstructed images, a comparison was made between images with different acquisition times and between images with the same acquisition time, which aimed at determining the optimal method for reconstructing high-quality images. A blind test for qualitative analysis confirmed almost no difference in image quality depending on the image acquisition time. Furthermore, in quantitative analysis, there was no significant difference in image quality depending on the image acquisition time. On the other hand, the results of the analysis in the image reconstruction method with the same acquisition time demonstrated a significant difference. The images reconstructed by the Astonish method, which uses a repetition technique, are believed to be excellent because they have high resolution and provide clinical diagnostic information. This study confirmed that the reconstruction method with a repetition technique could be used to improve image quality and reduce the scan time, despite not being in general use until recently due to the lengthy time needed for image reconstruction and lack of storage space.