Effect of geometric and motion tracking error for awake small animal SPECT

A series of simulation studies were performed to evaluate the effects of geometric and motion tracking errors on reconstruction image quality for a single pinhole collimator awake animal imaging SPECT system. List-mode SPECT data generated using a custom Monte Carlo program that incorporated experimental mouse motion data were reconstructed by MLEM with Siddon's ray tracing. To better understand the impact of motion tracking and system geometric parameter errors on reconstructed system data, an offset of up to 1 mm or degree was separately applied to each for evaluation. In the absence of motion tracking or system geometric error, the applied motion compensation algorithm successfully reconstructed volumes without any degradation or distortion. Presented results reveal that motion tracking errors propagate through the SPECT reconstruction process. However, it is confirmed that the impact of tracking errors in the currently employed motion tracking system, is minimal because of their accuracy. The results also reveal the direct and indirect impact of geometric errors to motion compensated reconstruction quality and that a wrong assumption of pinhole transaxial position produces the most amount of distortion of all the investigated errors. Finally, system geometric errors are shown to have a greater impact on reconstruction quality than equivalent tracking errors.