Super Spatial Resolution (SSR) method for scintigraphic imaging

Abstract

This work describes an innovative patented Super Spatial Resolution (SSR) method applied to scintigraphic devices. The aim of Super Resolution (SR) techniques is to enhance the resolution of an imaging system, using information from several images. SR reconstruction may be considered as a second generation problem of Image Restoration. It combines several slightly different Low Resolution (LR) images to obtain a High Resolution (HR) image. SR techniques are, widely, described in scientific literature mainly for applications in video communication, object recognition and image compression. In this paper we focus to apply the SR task to the scintigraphic imaging. Specifically, it is described as a patented method that uses a High Resolution Scintigraphic Camera (HRSC) to collect and process a set of scintigraphic images, in view of obtaining a very high resolution image. The HRSC device, which is currently used in Medical Imaging, is based on a parallel square holes collimator and on a Hamamatsu H8500 Position Sensitive Photomultiplier Tubes (PSPMT). The SSR method is applied to the synthetic images of three different phantoms, to verify the effective spatial resolution values. The results confirm that it is possible to achieve optimal spatial resolution values at different depths, useful in small object and small animal imaging. Our study confirms the feasibility of a very high resolution system in scintigraphic imaging and the possibility to have gamma cameras using the SSR method, to perform clinical applications on patients.