The Comparison of Quantitative Accuracy Between Energy Window-Based and CT-Based Scatter Correction Method in SPECT/CT Images

SPECT/CT 영상에서 에너지창 기반 산란보정과 CT 기반 산란보정 방법의 정량적 정확성 비교

Purpose In SPECT image, scatter count is the cause of quantitative count error and image quality degradation. Thus, a wide range of scatter correction(SC) methods have been studied and this study is to evaluate the accuracy of CT based SC(CTSC) used in SPECT/CT as the comparison with existing energy window based SC(EWSC). Materials and Methods SPECT/CT images were obtained after filling air in order to acquire a reference image without the influence of scatter count inside the Triple line insert phantom setting hot rod(74.0 MBq) in the middle and each SPECT/CT image was obtained each separately after filling water instead of air in order to derive the influence of scatter count under the same conditions. In both conditions, Astonish(iterative : 4 subset : 16) reconstruction method and CT attenuation correction were commonly applied and three types of SC methods such as non-scatter correction(NSC), EWSC, CTSC were used in images filled with image. For EWSC, 9 sub-energy windows were set additionally in addition to main(=peak) energy window(140 keV, 20%) and then, images were acquired at the same time and five types of EWSC including DPW(dual photo-peak window)10%, DEW(dual energy window)20%, TEW(triple energy window)10%, TEW5.0%, TEW2.5% were used. Under the condition without fluctuations in primary count, total count was measured by drawing volume of interest (VOI) in the images of the two conditions and then, the ratio of scatter count of total counts was calculated as percent scatter fraction(%SF) and the count error with image filled with water was evaluated with percent normalized mean-square error(%NMSE) based on the image filled with air. Results Based on the image filled with air, %SF of images filled with water to which each SC method was applied is NSC 37.44, DPW 27.41, DEW 21.84, TEW10% 19.60, TEW5% 17.02, TEW2.5% 14.68, CTSC 5.57 and the most scattering counts were removed in CTSC and %NMSE is NSC 35.80, DPW 14.28, DEW 7.81, TEW10% 5.94, TEW5% 4.21, TEW2.5% 2.96, CTSC 0.35 and the error in CTSC was found to be the lowest. Conclusion In SPECT/CT images, the application of each scatter correction method used in the experiment could improve the quantitative count error caused by the influence of scatter count. In particular, CTSC showed the lowest %NMSE(=0.35) compared to existing EWSC methods, enabling relatively accurate scatter correction.

SPECT영상에서 산란계수는 정량적 계수오차와 영상품질 저하의 요인이다. 이에 다양한 산란보정(Scatter Correction, SC)방법이 연구되어 왔으며, 본 연구에서는 기존의 에너지창(Energy Window, EW) 기반 SC(EWSC)와의 비교로 SPECT/CT에서 사용되는 CT 기반 SC(CTSC)의 정확성을 평가하고자 한다. 중앙에 열소막대(hot rod, 74.0 MBq)를 설정한 Triple line insert 팬텀의 내부에 산란계수의 영향이 없는 기준영상의 획득을 위하여 공기를 채운 후 SPECT /CT영상을 획득하였고, 같은 조건에서 산란계수의 영향을 유도하기 위하여 공기대신 물을 채운 후 SPECT/CT영상을 각각 별도로 획득하였다. 두 조건 모두 Astonish(iterative : 4, subset : 16) 재구성 방법과 CT감쇠보정을 공통 적용하였고, 물을 채운 영상에 비산란보정(NSC), EWSC, CTSC 3가지 유형의 산란보정방법을 사용하였다. EWSC를 위하여 주(=peak) 에너지창(140 keV, 20%) 이외에 보조 에너지창 9개를 추가 설정한 후 영상을 동시 획득하였고, EWSC의 종류는 DPW(dual photopeak window) 10%, DEW (dual energy window)20%, TEW(triple energy window)10%, TEW5.0%, TEW2.5% 5가지를 사용하였다. 일차(primary)계수의 변동이 없는 조건하에, 두 조건의 영상에 VOI를 그려 총계수를 측정한 후 총계수 중 산란계수의 비를 %SF(percent scatter fraction)로 구하고, 공기를 채운 영상을 기준으로 물을 채운 영상과의 계수차이를 %NMSE (per cent normalized mean-square error)로 평가하였다. 공기를 채운 영상을 기준으로 각 산란보정방법이 적용된 물을 채운 영상의 %SF는 NSC 37.44, DPW 27.41, DEW 21.84, TEW10% 19.60, TEW5% 17.02, TEW2.5% 14.68, CTSC 5.57로 CTSC에서 제거된 산란계수가 가장 많았으며, %NMSE는 NSC 35.80, DPW 14.28, DEW 7.81, TEW10% 5.94, TEW5% 4.21, TEW2.5% 2.96, CTSC 0.35로 CTSC에서 가장 낮게 나타났다. SPECT/CT영상에서 실험에 사용된 각 산란보정 방법의 적용은 산란계수의 영향으로 발생된 정량적 계수오차를 개선시킬 수 있었다. 특히, CTSC의 경우 기존의 EWSC방법들과 비교하여 가장 낮은 %NMSE (=0.35)를 보여 비교적 정확한 산란보정이 가능하였다.