Outside-fov activity estimation using surview and prior patient data in positron emission tomography

A non-transitory storage medium storing instructions readable and executable by an electronic data processing device to perform an imaging method including:

• receiving tomographic radioemission data of a radiopharmaceutical in a subject in an imaging field of view (FOV);
• receiving extension imaging data of the subject in an extended FOV neighboring the imaging FOV;
• estimating a distribution of the radiopharmaceutical in the subject in the extended FOV based on the extension imaging data;
• and
• reconstructing the tomographic radioemission data to generate a reconstructed image of the subject in the imaging FOV;
• wherein the reconstructing includes correcting the reconstructed image for scatter from the estimated distribution of the radiopharmaceutical in the subject in the extended FOV.

An imaging method including:

• acquiring tomographic radioemission data of a radiopharmaceutical in a subject in an imaging field of view (FOV);
• acquiring extension imaging data of the subject in an extended FOV extending beyond the imaging FOV along an axial direction;
• estimating a distribution of the radiopharmaceutical in the subject in the extended FOV based on the extension imaging data;
• and
• reconstructing the tomographic radioemission data to generate a reconstructed image of the subject in the imaging FOV including correcting the reconstructed image for scatter into the imaging FOV from the estimated distribution of the radiopharmaceutical in the subject in the extended FOV.