02/12/2021

Imaging using radiations

IV- Quantification in SPECT

Patrice Laquerriere
patrice.laquerriere@iphc.cnrs.fr

Cours M2 PRIDI, année 2021-2022

Introduction

It’s a « nice » image

There is more dark than gray
We can see arteria
the pixel x,y is more dense than its neighbour
The pixel value is : XXX grey level
XXX UH
XXX cm-1
XXX amount of product

quantification means that you can obtain a value extract from the image and
that have a biological meanning

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two types of quantification

• Relative Quantification
– no unit
– Compare two values together

• Absolute Quantification
– Has a unit
– Concentration Measurement of the injected molecule
within an organ or a ROI
– Measurement of a constant that characterized a
biological phenomenon

Issues
• Cognitive
– Detect, characterize and understand the fonctionnal
processes
• Location of brain functional sites that corresponds to carry
out some tasks
• Prediction of pharmacological effects of a moleculeby
characterizing its affinity to a target

• Diagnostic
– Objective Characterization of observed abnormalities
• Better choice of the therapy
• Follow up of the therapy

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Issues
Pre-traitement post-traitement

Classification of the tumour

Pronostic issue Therapeutic issue

Quantification difficulties
Intrinsic to the imaging technic
Interaction radiation / matter
Photon Attenuation tissues
Compton scattering

Imaging system Limitations

spatial/energy Resolution
Noise in the measurement
image Reconstruction

Potential difficulties
Patient Movements
Physiological (breathing and heart beat)
Involuntary Movements

Detection system Defaults

Uniformity, linéarity, dead time, mechanic

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Attenuation in SPECT


  E ( t ) dt
N 0e  d N 0e 0

N0

Attenuation in SPECT
d


  E ( t ) dt
N  N 0e 0

The number of photon N depends on :

The location of the radiation emission (d)
The crossed tissue (µ)
photon energy (µE)

à 150 keV à 60 keV à 30 keV

Tissue Densité µ
(g/cm3) (cm-1)

Fat Tissues 0,95 0,142 0,187 0,291

Mammary Tissues 1,02 0,152 0,204 0,347
Cortical bone 1,92 0,284 0,605 2,555
Muscle 1,05 0,156 0,215 0,397
Soft Tissues 1,00 0,149 0,205 0,379

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100%
Fraction de photons en sortie 90% at 150 keV
80%

70%
Tissus adipeux
60%
tissus mammaires
50% Os cortical
Muscle
40%
Tissus mous
30%
100%
20%

10%
at 60 keV
80%
0%

Fraction de photons en sortie

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Distance traversée (cm) 60%
Tissus adipeux
tissus mammaires
40% Os cortical
Muscle
Tissus mous
20%

100%
0%
90%
at 30 keV
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Fraction de photons en sortie

80%
-20%
70%
Distance traversée (cm)
Tissus adipeux
60%
tissus mammaires
50% Os cortical
Muscle
40%
Tissus mous
30%

20%

10%

0%
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Distance traversée (cm)

Wrong Quantification

unequal Attenuation according to the depth

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attenuation Correction
Determine the linear attenuation coefficient distribution

Using a transmission device


  E ( t ) dt
N  N 0e 0

External emission Source N0

N  d
ln  0    E (t )dt E  x, y , z 
N  0

attenuation Correction
Acquisition of 2D projection by transmission
under different angles
Tomographic Reconstruction
Obtention of the attenuation « map »

Problem: photon scattering

Under-estimation of the coefficients
Planar Source

Fenêtre
électronique de
détection

Collimated Source

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attenuation Correction

Collimation fan beam

Possibility of troncation

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Multimodale Approach

2D projections Acquisition
Tomographic Reconstruction
linear attenuation coefficient Obtention

Problems:
Spatial and time Resolution of the CT : no blur due to patient movement
Energy scalling

Correction Methods

Before tomographic reconstruction

Multiplication of projections/sinograms by the approximative corrector coefficients

during the tomographic reconstruction

Modelling of the attenuation in the reconstruction algorithm

after the tomographic reconstruction

Multiplication of the images by the approximative coefficients (Chang)

Problems
Movements between emission and transmission images
Noise propagation from transmission projection to the reconstructed image

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Example

Compton scattering
Compton scattering possible
in the patient,
in the collimator
in the crystal

Wrong Photon location in the projection

Energy loss
blur
Contrast loss
Wrong quantification

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Main Interaction in soft tissues

Increase of the cross section when the energy decreases

The energy loss increases as a function of the scattering angle

Scattering Correction
Removal of the scattered radiation
During the acquisition
Good energy resolution useful to determine the energy window

After acquisition
by subtraction (estimation of the scattering)
Take into account the scattering in the reconstruction algorithm

Many other methods have been developped

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Example of correction
Method proposed by Jaszczak

Non steady-state Spatial resolution

Distortion in the reconstructed images

Not centred Sphere -> ellipsoid

Projection Correction
Take into account the impulse response into the reconstruction algorithm

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Illustration

volume partial Effect

Under-estimation of the activity in small structure

Depending on
the contrast object/background
of the object size
of the system spatial resolution
of the spatial sampling
of the ROI

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Illustration (TEP)
size: w x h
SUV = 2,2

1,2

Facteur de correction
1

0,8

0,6

0,4

0,2

Taille (mm)
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Tumour size = 6mm

Coefficient = 70%

SUV = 2.2 SUV (corrected) = 3,2

Calibration
Necessary step for the absolute quantification

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