Iterative reconstruction of the detector response for medical gamma cameras

TL;DR

This paper introduces an iterative method to reconstruct detector response functions for medical gamma cameras, improving image accuracy without strict data uniformity, and enabling real-time monitoring of photomultiplier gains.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel iterative approach to determine detector response functions from flood data, eliminating the need for uniform event distribution and supporting real-time application.

Findings

Effective reconstruction of response functions demonstrated with simulated data.

Method enables monitoring of photomultiplier gain variations.

Real-time implementation of the technique is feasible.

Abstract

Statistical event reconstruction techniques can give better results for gamma cameras than the traditional centroid method. However, implementation of such techniques requires detailed knowledge of the PMT light response functions. Here we describe an iterative technique which allows to obtain the response functions from flood irradiation data without imposing strict requirements on the spatial uniformity of the event distribution. A successful application of the technique for medical gamma cameras is demonstrated using both simulated and experimental data. We show that this technique can be used for monitoring of the photomultiplier gain variations. An implementation of the iterative reconstruction technique capable of operating in real-time is also presented.