Expectation maximization SPECT reconstruction with a content-adaptive singularity-based mesh-domain image model

To improve the speed and quality of ordered-subsets expectation-maximization (OSEM) SPECT reconstruction, we have implemented a content-adaptive, singularity-based, mesh-domain, image model (CASMIM) with an accurate algorithm for estimation of the mesh-domain system matrix. A preliminary image, used to initialize CASMIM reconstruction, was obtained using pixel-domain OSEM. The mesh-domain representation of the image was produced by a 2D wavelet transform followed by Delaunay triangulation to obtain joint estimation of nodal locations and their activity values. A system matrix with attenuation compensation was investigated. Digital chest phantom SPECT was simulated and reconstructed. The quality of images reconstructed with OSEM-CASMIM is comparable to that from pixel-domain OSEM, but images are obtained five times faster by the CASMIM method.