Advances in PET Image Reconstruction

Until recently, the most widely used methods for image reconstruction were direct analytic techniques. Iterative techniques, although computationally much more intensive, produce improved images (principally arising from more accurate modeling of the acquired projection data), enabling these techniques to replace analytic techniques not only in research settings but also in the clinic. This article offers an overview of image reconstruction theory and algorithms for PET, with a particular emphasis on statistical iterative reconstruction techniques. Future directions for image reconstruction in PET are considered, which concern mainly improving the modeling of the data acquisition process and task-specific specification of the parameters to be estimated in image reconstruction.