Scatter estimation for PET from image-based convolutional neural network

A method of producing a scatter-based output, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a nuclear medicine diagnosis apparatus, a first attenuation correction data of a subject and a first nuclear medicine image of the subject, wherein the first nuclear medicine image includes a scatter effect, and
• outputting, by the nuclear medicine diagnosis apparatus a scatter sinogram indicating the scatter effect in the first nuclear medicine image by inputting both the received first attenuation correction data and the received first nuclear medicine image to a trained neural network, wherein the trained neural network was trained by (1) inputting, as input data sets, (1a) attenuation correction training data and (1b) training nuclear medicine images that include the scatter effect, and (2) inputting a corresponding set of scatter sinogram training outputs with reduced scatter effects as compared with the training nuclear medicine images, the scatter sinogram training outputs being generated using a scatter estimation method different form the neural network.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored therein that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

• receive a first attenuation correction data of a subject and a first nuclear medicine image of the subject, wherein the first nuclear medicine image includes a scatter effect, and
• output a scatter sinogram indicating the scatter effect in the first nuclear medicine image by inputting both the received first attenuation correction data and the received first nuclear medicine image to a trained neural network, wherein the trained neural network was trained by (1) inputting, as input data sets, (1a) attenuation correction training data and (1b) training nuclear medicine images that include the scatter effect, and (2) inputting a corresponding set of scatter sinogram training outputs with reduced scatter effects as compared with the training nuclear medicine images, the scatter sinogram training outputs being generated using a scatter estimation method different form the neural network.