Multi-Head Nuclear Medicine Imaging ROI Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Nuclear medicine imaging systems face challenges in achieving good image quality across a wide coverage area without increasing scan time, often resulting in distortions due to noise when edge projections are not included in the focused region.
Innovation Solution
A multi-head imaging system with a gantry and detector units that determine a region of interest (ROI) and adjust rotational and sweeping configurations to ensure a predetermined percentage of projection pixels receive information from the ROI, optimizing the number of rotational steps and detector coverage to balance wide coverage with reduced scan time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the width of coverage is increased to improve image quality across all features, then the coverage area is improved, but the scan time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the imaging process into focused region acquisition and background acquisition, performed in sequence. The focused region is imaged first with higher priority and more projections, then the background is imaged afterward. This segmentation allows the system to concentrate resources on the most important region while still capturing background information, thereby improving overall coverage quality without proportionally increasing total scan time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different acquisition strategies to different regions of interest. The focused region receives dedicated attention with a higher percentage of projections allocated to it, ensuring superior image quality in that specific area. The background region receives the remaining projections, providing adequate but less intensive coverage. This local differentiation of quality levels optimizes the trade-off between coverage area and scan time.
2Area of stationary object
If the number of rotational steps is increased to improve coverage, then the coverage is improved, but the acquisition time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent dynamically adjusts the number of rotational steps and projections allocated to different regions based on clinical priorities. Rather than using a fixed number of steps for the entire scan, the system flexibly distributes projections between focused region and background acquisition. This dynamic allocation allows optimization of coverage versus time trade-offs according to specific imaging needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by allocating a predetermined percentage of projections specifically to the focused region, ensuring sufficient coverage of the most important area. The remaining projections are allocated to background acquisition. This partial focus strategy ensures that the critical focused region receives adequate attention while the background receives sufficient but less intensive coverage, optimizing overall efficiency.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If edge projections are excluded from the focused region to reduce noise, then noise is reduced, but image quality and coverage are degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts edge projections from the focused region acquisition and includes them in the background acquisition instead. By separating the treatment of edge projections, the system can exclude them from the focused region (reducing noise in that area) while still capturing them during background acquisition (maintaining overall coverage). This extraction strategy resolves the contradiction by assigning edge projections to the appropriate acquisition phase.
Data Source
AI summary
A nuclear medicine (NM) multi-head imaging system is provided that includes a gantry, detector units, and at least one processor. The gantry defines a bore. The detector units are mounted to the gantry and configured to rotate as a group with the gantry around the bore in rotational steps, with each detector unit configured to sweep about a corresponding axis and acquire imaging information while sweeping about the corresponding axis. The at least one processor is coupled to the detector units and configured to determine a region of interest (ROI) of the object to be imaged; determine a sweeping configuration based on the size of the ROI; determine a rotational movement configuration for the gantry using the determined sweeping configuration; and control the gantry and the set of detector units to utilize the determined rotational movement and sweeping configurations during acquisition of imaging information.