Three-dimensional blind deconvolution of SPECT images

IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2000 Feb;47(2):274-80. doi: 10.1109/10.821781.

Abstract

Thanks to its ability to yield functionally rather than anatomically-based information, the three-dimensional (3-D) SPECT imagery technique has become a great help in the diagnostic of cerebrovascular diseases. Nevertheless, due to the imaging process, the 3-D single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images are very blurred and, consequently, their interpretation by the clinician is often difficult and subjective. In order to improve the resolution of these 3-D images and then to facilitate their interpretation, we propose herein to extend a recent image blind deconvolution technique (called the nonnegativity support constraint-recursive inverse filtering deconvolution method) in order to improve both the spatial and the interslice resolution of SPECT volumes. This technique requires a preliminary step in order to find the support of the object to be restored. In this paper, we propose to solve this problem with an unsupervised 3-D Markovian segmentation technique. This method has been successfully tested on numerous real and simulated brain SPECT volumes, yielding very promising restoration results.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Brain / diagnostic imaging*
  • Brain Mapping
  • Humans
  • Image Enhancement / methods*
  • Markov Chains
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / methods*