Incorporation of structural CT and MR images in PET image reconstruction

A Bayesian method that incorporates a priori information derived from the spatially-correlated structural images in reconstruction of images acquired in positron emission tomography (PET) has been developed for the improvement of image quality. One source of a priori information that potentially can be very useful is the anatomic information extracted from the x-ray computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) images. For example, anatomic structures outlined on the correlated CT or MR images can be incorporated in the Bayesian method to aid in identifying boundaries in PET images. This new approach can improve the quality of the reconstructed PET images.