A New Approach for Motion Correction in SPECT Imaging

Due to the long imaging times in SPECT, patient motion is inevitable and constitutes a serious problem for any reconstruction algorithm. The measured inconsistent projection data lead to reconstruction artifacts which can significantly affect the diagnostic accuracy of SPECT if not corrected. Among the most promising attempts for addressing this cause of artifacts is the so-called data-driven motion correction methodology. But even this algorithm is restricted to the correction of abrupt rigid patient motion and exclusive correction of gradual motion, which may lead to unsatisfactory results. In this note we present for the first time a motion correction approach which overcomes the mentioned restrictions. The new approach is based on the super-resolution methodology. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed scheme, corrections of abrupt and gradual motion are presented.