Application of RISE in SPECT Myocardial Perfusion Imaging, using a Cardiac Phantom

The Reconstructed Image from Simulations Ensemble (RISE) has been demonstrated in emission tomography as an alternative reconstruction method that uses simulation and modeling techniques to reconstruct images from projection data. In this study, we present results from the first application of RISE in Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (MPI) with Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT). Extensive phantom experiments using a hardware cardiac phantom were performed to evaluate the efficacy of RISE in reconstructing the activity images of the myocardium with and without defect. The Ordered Subset Expectation Maximization (OSEM) method is used to provide images for comparison. The Contrast for Cold Regions was employed to quantify the detectability of the cold spots (defects) in the obtained RISE and OSEM images. Preliminary results show the capacity of RISE to provide comparable reconstructions to those of OSEM using an entirely different approach for modeling the tomographic problem.