ATTENUATION CORRECTION IN EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE EXISTING HARDWARE COMPONENTS

摘要

A method for generating an attenuation correction map for compensating for image defects in emission tomography due to existing hardware components within the imaging volume of an emission tomograph comprises the following steps:(1.a) making or providing one or more 3-D CAD models of the hardware components to be compensated,(1.b) converting the required components of the CAD models into a 3-dimensional image data set on a given grid to voxels and assigning a fill factor to each voxel,(1.c) multiplying the three-dimensional image data set of each component by the respective known attenuation coefficient of the material from which the respective component is constructed and the energy corresponding to that of the emission tomography radiotracer used; and(1.d) superimposition of the three-dimensional image data sets of all components of the hardware components to be compensated to an attenuation correction map. This can be easily and automatically created a highly accurate, noise-free and exactly reproducible attenuation correction map for attenuation correction in an emission tomography device taking into account the actually existing, known hardware components of the apparatus, which have a significant impact on the quality of the generated tomograms created ,