A mentored training program in quantitative medical imaging

描述（由候选人提供）： 单光子发射计算机断层扫描（SPECT）是一种在临床和医学研究中广泛应用的核医学技术。在SPECT中，例如通过注射将标记的放射性核素引入受试者。然后通过旋转伽马相机收集/计数发射的光子。在每个位置，摄像机收集所研究的器官的二维投影。从统计学的观点来看，这种情况是罕见的，因为发射光子的衰变的泊松分布是已知的。挑战在于仅观察投影数据时估计该分布的平均速率。该补助金的主要目标是激励和开发一个严格的培训计划，在物理和仪器的医学成像重建的重点是SPECT重建问题。本申请提出了一个教学和研究培训计划，以建立在医学成像科学的基础。该提案的具体目标建立在SPECT图像重建迭代算法的成功基础上。尽管这一成功，目前的做法遭受长期运行时间和特设程序停止算法。该建议的目的是加速基于EM的迭代重建算法，并从理论和经验上研究迭代内平滑。所有开发的算法将使用Monte Carlo和实际患者数据进行广泛测试。

DESCRIPTION (provided by candidate): Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) is a popular nuclear medicine technique in clinical practice and medical research. In SPECT, a labeled radionuclide is introduced into a subject, via injection, for example. The emitted photons are then collected/counted by rotating gamma cameras. At each position the camera collects a two dimensional projection of the organ under study. This situation is rare from a statistical viewpoint because the Poisson distribution of the decay of the emitted photons is known. The challenge is to estimate the mean rate of this distribution when only observing the projection data. The primary goal of this grant is to motivate and develop a rigorous training program in the physics and instrumentation of medical imaging reconstruction focusing on the SPECT reconstruction problem. This application, proposes a didactic and research training program to build a foundation in the science of medical imaging. The specific aims of this proposal build on the success of iterative algorithms for SPECT image reconstruction. Despite this success, current practices suffer from long run times and ad hoc procedures for stopping the algorithm. The aims of this proposal are to accelerate EM based iterative reconstruction algorithms and to theoretically and empirically investigate intra-iteration smoothing. All of the developed algorithms will be extensively tested using Monte Carlo and actual patient data.