Computational Collaborative Project in Synergistic PET-MR Reconstruction

磁共振(MR)和正电子发射断层扫描(PET)的放射性核素成像在医学诊断、临床研究和药物开发中发挥了重要作用。认识到这两种模式的互补性，这两种模式历来是分开使用的，集成式PET-MR扫描仪已由制造商设计和销售。这些设备开辟了令人兴奋的途径，在许多领域利用这两种模式之间的协同作用，包括痴呆症、心脏病学和动态过程的研究，如肿瘤对造影剂的吸收。这两种模式都是断层扫描：根据测量数据，代表患者解剖和功能特性的(堆叠)切片或体积可以使用复杂的算法重建。图像质量在很大程度上取决于图像重建方法。在患者数据上开发和测试新算法需要相当多的专业知识和软件实现方面的努力。我们将建立一个新的协作计算项目(CCP)，将不同地点和不同形式的PET和/或MR图像重建领域的研究人员联系起来，专注于集成PET-MR的后勤和计算方面。该CCP提供的平台将是一项使能技术，它将消除在处理由PET和MR扫描仪获取的原始医学成像数据集时经常遇到的障碍。以标准化格式处理数据将是直截了当的，这将极大地帮助和加速PET-MR图像重建和处理的创新开发，并最终实现协同图像重建的可能性。

Magnetic Resonance (MR) and radionuclide imaging using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) have established roles in medical diagnosis, clinical research and drug development. In recognition of the complementary nature of these two modalities, which have historically been used separately, integrated PET-MR scanners have been designed and marketed by manufacturers. These devices open-up exciting avenues to exploit the synergy between these two modalities in many areas, including dementia, cardiology, and investigation of dynamic processes such as the uptake of contrast agents by tumours.Both modalities are tomographic: from the measured data, (stacks of) slices or volumes representing anatomical and functional properties of the patient can be reconstructed using sophisticated algorithms. Image quality is critically dependent on image reconstruction methods. Development and testing of novel algorithms on patient data requires considerable expertise and effort in software implementation. We will establish a new Collaborative Computational Project (CCP) to connect researchers working at different sites and on the different modalities of PET and/or MR in the area of image reconstruction, concentrating on the logistical and computational aspects of integrated PET-MR.The platform to be provided by this CCP will be an enabling technology which removes the frequent obstacles encountered when working with the raw medical imaging datasets acquired by PET and MR scanners. It will be straightforward to work with data in a standardized format, massively aiding and accelerating innovative developments in image reconstruction and processing for PET-MR, and ultimately enabling the possibility of synergistic image reconstruction.