Power Spectrum Analysis Of Gamma Camera Image Noise: Stochastic And Nonstochastic Effects

Noise power spectrum analysis was performed on scintillation camera images. The analysis was performed on a set of field floods, uniform exposures over the field of view, in such a way that stochastic and nonstochastic effects for the set were separable. Stochastic noise for the digitally acquired images was found to approach the limit of Poisson count statistics. The nonstochastic component of the calculations dominated the results at the lower spatial frequencies. The noise power spectrum calculations retained information about the patterns of the noise in real-space images. Examples of digitization, photomultiplier tube mottle and edge-packing artifacts are presented.