Image Processing Methods for Attenuation Correction in Simultaneous PET/MR Scanners

Date: 

Wednesday, December 2, 2015, 4:30pm

Location: 

RCC Main Conference Room, 26 Trowbridge. Cambridge MA 02138

RCC is pleased to announce this talk, featuring RCC Fellow Ángel Torrado-Carvajal, Visiting Research Fellow at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging of the Massachusetts General Hospital.

The construction of accurate attenuation correction maps (AC maps) for use in hybrid PET/MR systems is challenging. Contrary to what happens with AC maps and the intensity of CT images, no direct relation exists between PET attenuation coefficients and MR signal intensity. We are working on image processing methods for pseudo-CT synthesis using MR images, what is essential for obtaining precise quantification of the processes under observation, and will have a large impact in the clinical application of hybrid PET/MR systems. These methods have been tested in brain studies, but its nature makes it readily extendable to other parts of the body, which is our current direction in collaboration with the "Integrated MR-PET Imaging Laboratory" at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging.