Improving Pediatric SPECT Imaging: Enhanced Lesion Detection with Dose Reduction through Advanced Reconstruction and Motion Correction

儿童核医学成像已被证明对所有器官都有显著的临床价值。 系统。在提供这一重大益处时，将儿科使用的辐射剂量降至最低是至关重要的 患者，其每单位服用活动对健康不利影响(如癌症)的风险要高得多 与成人相比，由于它们对组织的敏感度更高，潜在寿命更长。管治原则 这个项目的目的是最大限度地减少辐射剂量，同时有条不紊地确保病变检测性能 保存完好。这将通过使用基于数字和医生的验证来实现 观察者在模拟临床执行的任务中衡量表现。我们将雇佣两名员工 能够在保持性能的同时降低剂量的方法。首先，我们将使用高级 图像重建和处理技术。对各种形式的图像质量下降的校正 将被纳入重建，深度学习(DL)将用于重建后 去噪。其次，我们将开发纠正身体和呼吸运动的方法，这些运动会降低 诊断准确率。校正身体和呼吸运动将允许减少剂量而不会损失 图像质量，还将提供一种技术替代使用镇静，甚至全身麻醉 在为儿童成像时，尽量减少运动。在这项研究中，我们选择了99mTc标记 以二硫代丁二酸(DMSA)肾脏成像为试验床，演示我们的方法。损坏的地方 肾脏感染引起的肾皮质是儿童的一个关键问题，包括新生儿和 蹒跚学步的孩子DMSA SPECT是评价肾盂肾炎及术后肾疤痕形成的“金标准”。 感染。我们将演示减少辐射剂量和使用DMSA进行运动校正的概念 将可翻译到儿科成像和其他领域的其他SPECT(和PET)研究。 我们的具体目标是：1.建立调查和评估高级重建的基础设施 和运动矫正；2.通过以下途径确定儿科患者的辐射剂量减少程度 改进了重建和DL去噪，同时保持了最佳的全剂量病变检测精度； 开发数据驱动和深度传感相机方法，用于身体和呼吸运动估计和 更正；以及4.进行数字和医生观察者研究，以验证剂量减少的水平 通过DL去噪和运动校正实现。

Nuclear medicine imaging in children has been shown to have significant clinical value across all organ systems. In providing this significant benefit it is critical to minimize the radiation dose used in pediatric patients, whose risk for adverse health effects (such as cancer) per unit administered activity is much higher than that of adults, owing to their higher tissue sensitivity and longer potential lifespan. The governing principle of this project will be to minimize radiation dose while methodically ensuring that lesion detection performance is fully preserved. This will be accomplished by using validations based on both numerical and physician observers measuring performance in tasks that emulate those performed clinically. We will employ two approaches in tandem to enable lowering dose while maintaining performance. First, we will use advanced image reconstruction and processing techniques. Corrections for various forms of image quality degradation will be incorporated in the reconstruction, and deep learning (DL) will be used for post-reconstruction denoising. Second, we will develop methods to correct for both body and respiratory motion, which degrade diagnostic accuracy. Correcting for body and respiratory motion will allow dose to be reduced without loss of image quality and will also offer a technological alternative to using sedation or even general anesthesia to minimize motion when imaging children. For this investigation we have selected 99mTc-labeled dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) renal imaging as a testbed to demonstrate our approaches. Damage to the renal cortex resulting from infection of the kidneys is a critical issue in children, including newborns and toddlers. DMSA SPECT is the “gold-standard” in the evaluation of pyelonephritis and renal scarring post- infection. The concepts we will demonstrate for reduction of radiation dose and correction of motion with DMSA will be translatable to other SPECT (and PET) studies in pediatric imaging and beyond. Our Specific Aims are: 1. Establish infrastructure for investigating and evaluating advanced reconstruction and motion correction; 2. Determine the extent of radiation dose reduction to pediatric patients through improved reconstruction and DL denoising while maintaining optimal full-dose lesion detection accuracy; 3. Develop data-driven and depth-sensing camera methods for body and respiratory motion estimation and correction; and 4. Conduct numerical and physician observer studies to validate the level of dose reduction enabled by DL denoising and motion correction.