Nonuniform sampling pitch acquisition method in myocardial single-photon emission computed tomography.

BACKGROUND: Single-photon emission computed tomography is a tomographic imaging method that acquires a projection image by rotating a gamma camera around by 380° or 180°. For myocardial single-photon emission computed tomography, 180° acquisition is common, but it has limitations including an incomplete reconstruction, which can distort the resulting image. It is possible to produce a complete reconstruction using 360° acquisition, but the testing time is long and is burdensome to patients. METHODS: The nonuniform sampling pitch acquisition (NUSPA) method devised in this study involves reducing the total sampling count using NUSPA that reduces the sampling pitch in the range in which the gamma cameras are closer to the myocardium (RAO45-LPO45) and increases it elsewhere. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The NUSPA-1 method based on a 6° sampling pitch had 20 views fewer than 360° acquisition. In addition, the NUSPA-2 method based on a 3.75° sampling pitch had 60 views fewer than 360° acquisition, considerably reducing the testing time. The acquired sinograms from the NUSPA methods were subjected to nonuniform rational B-spline surface interpolation processing, producing data with a uniform sampling pitch, after which image reconstruction was performed. The images after nonuniform rational B-spline interpolation for both the line sources and heart-liver phantom investigated in this study were not found to have the distortion observed from 180° acquisition or a count decrease at the center, resulting in image quality nearly equivalent to 360° acquisition. This method enabled a reduction in testing time without impacting image quality.