Data processing in nuclear medicine

Abstract

The designed software makes it possible to capture and process data in static, dynamics,tomography and synchronization modes. The data processing allows qualitatively and quantitatively estimate the results of radionuclide studies.Nuclear medicine is a branch of medical science involving the application of radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The data processing in nuclear medicine is very important for the estimation of the functional status of the various organs and body systems [1-3]. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) data processing was considered in this work [4]. The main stages of data processing were studied. The purpose of this study was to develop and apply mathematical methods for SPECT data processing.Data processing has been involved the following main stages: data correction [5], tomography reconstruction [6], mathematical modeling of dynamic processes [1-2], calculation of diagnostic parameters, functional images construction [7-9], and three-dimensional visualization.Motion correction in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and dynamic scintigraphy is one of the most important steps of the processing of radionuclide studies. It is impossible to avoid the position changing of the patient or its target organs during data acquisition. Detection and correction of patient motion during the acquisition of diagnostic data were considered. The algorithms of motion correction based on the method of cross-correlation function and optical flow were developed [5][6].A parallel implementation of MLEM using an OpenCL programming language was used for SPECT image reconstruction [10]. This technology allows the program to run on any modern GPU from major manufacturers as nVidia, AMD and Intel.Mathematical models of dynamic processes were suggested that allow determining the velocity field according to given distribution density of radiopharmaceuticals [1,6].Mathematical modeling of static, dynamic and gated processes was considered for quantitative analysis of studies in nephrology, osteology, endocrinology and cardiology.

Challenges of gated myocardial perfusion SPECT processing

“…The radionuclide method of studying the internal organs and systems of the human body is a modern method of many disease diagnostics. Digital processing of radionuclide studies is an important stage in obtaining qualitative and quantitative diagnostic information [Kotina and Ploskikh, 2012;Kotina et al, 2013b]. Currently, there is a trend towards automation of research and obtaining accurate quantitative variables [Slomka et al, 2017;Slomka et al, 2016;Gomez et al, 2018;Garcia et al, 2007].…”

Optimization algorithm of the velocity field determining in image processing

“…All these types of processing are important for radionuclide images, in particular image analysis based on the velocity field construction. Radionuclide image processing based on the velocity field determining was considered in papers [Kotina and Ovsyannikov, 2018;Kotina and Pasechnaya, 2014;Kotina and Ploskikh, 2012;Kotina, Ploskikh, and Babin, 2013].…”

Quantitative analysis of gated myocardial perfusion SPECT

“…Methods of automatic data processing are intensively developed nowadays. Segmentation algorithms and data representation methods are being elaborated and improved [Xu et al, 2009;Germano et al, 2016;Kotina and Ploskikh, 2012;Kotina and Pasechnaya, 2014]. Methods of construction of parametric images in cardiology based on Fourier and wavelet analysis are evolving [Chen et al, 2005;Chen et al, 2011;Hsu et al, 2013;Babin and Kotina, 2014;Ostroumov et al, 2015;Nakajima et al, 2017].…”