Photograph to X-ray Image Translation for Anatomical Mouse Mapping in Preclinical Nuclear Molecular Imaging

Abstract

We present preliminary results of an off-the-shelf approach for the translation of a photographic mouse image to an X-ray scan for anatomical mouse mapping, but not for diagnosis, in functional 2D molecular imaging techniques, such radionuclide and optical imaging. It is well known that preclinical molecular imaging accelerates the drug development process. However, commercial imaging systems have high purchase cost, require high service contracts, special facilities and trained staff. As an alternative, planar molecular imaging systems provide several advantages including lower complexity and decreased cost among others, making them affordable to small and medium sized groups which work in the field, bridging the gap between biodistributions studies and 3D imaging systems. A pix2pix network was trained to predict a realistic X-ray mouse image from a photographic one (simplifying the hardware and cost requirement compared to standard X-rays), giving the potential to have an anatomical map of the mouse, along with the functional information of a molecular planar imaging modality.KeywordsImage-to-image translationMolecular nuclear imagingArtificial X-rayPETSPECTDeep learningpix2pix