Integration of advanced 3D SPECT modelling for pinhole collimators into the open-source STIR framework

Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) systems with pinhole collimators are becoming increasingly important in clinical and preclinical nuclear medicine investigations as they can provide a superior resolution-sensitivity trade-off compared to conventional parallel-hole and fanbeam collimators. Previously, open-source software did not exist for reconstructing tomographic images from pinhole-SPECT datasets. A 3D SPECT system matrix modelling library specific for pinhole collimators has recently been integrated into STIR, an open-source software package for tomographic image reconstruction. The pinhole-SPECT library enables corrections for attenuation and the spatially variant collimator–detector response by incorporating their effects into the system matrix. Attenuation correction can be calculated with a simple single line of response or a full model. The spatially variant collimator–detector response can be modelled with a point spread function and depth of interaction corrections for increased system matrix accuracy. In addition, improvements to computational speed and memory requirements can be made with image masking. This work demonstrates the flexibility and accuracy of STIR’s support for pinhole-SPECT datasets using measured and simulated single-pinhole SPECT data from which reconstructed images were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The extension of the open-source STIR project with advanced pinhole-SPECT modelling will enable the research community to study the impact of pinhole collimators in several SPECT imaging scenarios and with different scanners.