Toward the Design of a Positron Volume Imaging Camera

Three different computing algorithms for performing positron emission image reconstruction have been compared using Monte Carlo phantom simulations. The work was motivated by the recent announcement of the commercial availability of a positron volume imaging camera, the Siemens-CTI 953 B/31[1] which has improved axial (slice) resolution and retractable interslice septa. The simulations demonstrate the importance of developing a complete three-dimensional reconstruction algorithm to deal with the increased gamma detection solid angle and the increased scatter fraction that result when the interslice septa are removed from a ring tomograph. We are developing such an algorithm.