Objective evaluation of reconstruction methods for quantitative SPECT imaging in the absence of ground truth

Abhinav K. Jha; Na Song; Brian Caffo; Eric C. Frey

doi:10.1117/12.2081286

13 April 2015 Objective evaluation of reconstruction methods for quantitative SPECT imaging in the absence of ground truth

Abhinav K. Jha, Na Song, Brian Caffo, Eric C. Frey

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9416, Medical Imaging 2015: Image Perception, Observer Performance, and Technology Assessment; 94161K (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2081286
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2015, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Quantitative single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging is emerging as an important tool in clinical studies and biomedical research. There is thus a need for optimization and evaluation of systems and algorithms that are being developed for quantitative SPECT imaging. An appropriate objective method to evaluate these systems is by comparing their performance in the end task that is required in quantitative SPECT imaging, such as estimating the mean activity concentration in a volume of interest (VOI) in a patient image. This objective evaluation can be performed if the true value of the estimated parameter is known, i.e. we have a gold standard. However, very rarely is this gold standard known in human studies. Thus, no-gold-standard techniques to optimize and evaluate systems and algorithms in the absence of gold standard are required. In this work, we developed a no-gold-standard technique to objectively evaluate reconstruction methods used in quantitative SPECT when the parameter to be estimated is the mean activity concentration in a VOI. We studied the performance of the technique with realistic simulated image data generated from an object database consisting of five phantom anatomies with all possible combinations of five sets of organ uptakes, where each anatomy consisted of eight different organ VOIs. Results indicate that the method pro- vided accurate ranking of the reconstruction methods. We also demonstrated the application of consistency checks to test the no-gold-standard output.

Citation Download Citation

Abhinav K. Jha, Na Song, Brian Caffo, and Eric C. Frey "Objective evaluation of reconstruction methods for quantitative SPECT imaging in the absence of ground truth", Proc. SPIE 9416, Medical Imaging 2015: Image Perception, Observer Performance, and Technology Assessment, 94161K (13 April 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2081286

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