Effect of detector weighting functions on the point spread function of high-resolution PET tomographs: a simulation study.

The point spread function (PSF) of a ring PET tomograph is known to be spatially variant and difficult to obtain because it must be reconstructed from projections. A mathematical model was developed to simulate the data acquisition from a point source and to reconstruct the PSF, taking into account weighting functions to describe the detector response functions. In order to investigate the effect of the detector weighting function on the PSF, the reconstruction, based on the filtered backprojection algorithm, was implemented with three classes of weighting functions of decreasing complexity: exact, locally invariant, and constant.

Fast point spread function computation from aperture functions in high-resolution positron emission tomography.

The problem of extracting point spread functions from detector aperture functions in high-resolution PET is addressed. In the limit of very small size detectors relative to the ring dimensions, assumptions are made that lead to a fast and simple computation model yielding point spread functions with negligible errors due to the reconstruction algorithm. The methods allows one to assess accurately the intrinsic performance of a PET tomograph, and it appears to be adequate to relate the imaging capabilities in every point of the camera reconstruction field to the geometric and physical characteristics of the detection system.