New Attenuation Map for SPECT Images Quality Enhancement

摘要

Correction for internal gamma-ray attenuation is an important aspect in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). It is generally realized through the use of an attenuation map derived from X-ray CT data. In this paper we present a new method of creating an attenuation map derived from X-ray CT data where we extract the lungs by segmentation and we multiply it by the Hounsfield units (HU). This method is applied on a database of 10 thoracic SPECT exams. The evaluation of the obtained results shows that the proposed method increases the accuracy, the structural similarity index and the peak of signal to noise ratio of the obtained image comparing to the methods of Shabnam, Nasr and Saha. In addition, it guarantees a lower value of the mean squared error and lower time in execution.