Performance evaluation of functional medical imaging compression via optimal sampling schedule designs and cluster analysis

In previous work we have described a technique for the compression of positron emission tomography (PET) image data in the spatial and temporal domains based on optimal sampling schedule designs (OSS) and cluster analysis. It can potentially achieve a high data compression ratio greater than 80:1. However, the number of distinguishable cluster groups in dynamic PET image data is a critical issue for this algorithm that has not been experimentally analyzed on clinical data. In this paper, the problem of experimentally determining the ideal cluster number for the algorithm for PET brain data is addressed.