Coded Aperture Tomography Revisited

摘要

Coded aperture (CA) Tomography never achieved wide spread use in Nuclear Medicine, except for the degenerate case of Seven Pinhole tomagraphy (7PHT). However it enjoys several attractive features (high sensitivity and tomographic ability with a statis detector). On the other hand, resolution is usually poor especially along the depth axis and the reconstructed volume is rather limited. Arguments are presented justifying the position that CA tomography can be useful for imaging time-varying 3D structures, if its major drawbacks (poor longitudinal resolution and difficulty in quantification) are overcome. Poor results obtained with 7PHT can be explained by both a very limited angular range sampled and a crude modelling of the image formation process. Therefore improvements can be expected by the use of a dual-detector system, along with a better understanding of its sampling properties and the use of more powerful reconstruction algorithms. Non overlapping multipinhole plates, because they do not involve a decoding procedure, should be considered first for practical applications. Use of real CA should be considered for cases in which non overlapping multipinhole plates do not lead to satisfactory solutions. We have been and currently are carrying out theoretical and experimental works, in order to define the factors which limit CA imaging and to propose satisfactory solutions for Dynamic Emission Tomography. (ERA citation 08:042297)