A Review on Low-Dose Emission Tomography Post-Reconstruction Denoising with Neural Network Approaches

IEEE Trans Radiat Plasma Med Sci. 2024 Apr;8(4):333-347. doi: 10.1109/trpms.2023.3349194. Epub 2024 Jan 2.

Abstract

Low-dose emission tomography (ET) plays a crucial role in medical imaging, enabling the acquisition of functional information for various biological processes while minimizing the patient dose. However, the inherent randomness in the photon counting process is a source of noise which is amplified low-dose ET. This review article provides an overview of existing post-processing techniques, with an emphasis on deep neural network (NN) approaches. Furthermore, we explore future directions in the field of NN-based low-dose ET. This comprehensive examination sheds light on the potential of deep learning in enhancing the quality and resolution of low-dose ET images, ultimately advancing the field of medical imaging.

Keywords: Deep Learning; Low-Dose; PET; SPECT.