Optimization of 2D image reconstruction for positron emission mammography using IDL

The Clear-PEM system is a prototype machine for Positron Emission Mammography (PEM) under development within the Portuguese PET-Mammography consortium. We have embedded 2D image reconstruction algorithms implemented in IDL within the prototype's image analysis package. The IDL implementation of these algorithms proved to be accurate and computationally efficient. In this paper, we present the implementation of the MLEM, OSEM and ART 2D iterative image reconstruction algorithms for PEM using IDL. C and IDL implementations are compared using realistic Monte Carlo simulated data. We show that IDL can be used for the easy implementation of image reconstruction algorithms for emission tomography.