Time-of-flight positron emission tomography reconstruction using image content generated event-by-event based on time-of-flight information

Abstract

A method of processing a positron emission tomography (PET) imaging data set (30) acquired of a subject includes independently localizing each positron-electron annihilation event of the PET imaging data set based on time of flight (TOF) localization of the positron-electron annihilation event to form a generated image (34). The generated image may be displayed. The generated image is suitably used as the basis for an initial image of an iterative reconstruction (40) of the PET imaging data set (30) to produce a reconstructed image (42). A spatial contour (56) of an image of the subject in the PET imaging data set (30) is suitably delineated based on the generated image (34). A subject attenuation map (62) for use in PET image reconstruction (40) is suitably constructed based in part on the spatial contour (56).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.