Back-Projection Filtration Inversion of Discrete Projections

International audienceWe present a new, robust discrete back-projection filtration algorithm to reconstruct digital images from close-to-minimal sets of arbitrarily oriented discrete projected views. The discrete projections are in the Mojette format, with either Dirac or Haar pixel sampling. The strong aliasing in the raw image reconstructed by direct back-projection is corrected via a de-convolution using the Fourier transform of the discrete point-spread function (PSF) that was used for the forward projection. The de-convolution is regularised by applying an image-sized digital weighting function to the raw PSF. These weights are obtained from the set of back-projected points that partially tile the image area to be reconstructed. This algorithm produces high quality reconstructions at and even below the Katz sufficiency limit, which defines a minimal criterion for projection sets that permit a unique discrete reconstruction for noise-free data. As the number of input discrete projected views increases, the PSF more fully tiles the discrete region to be reconstructed, the de-convolution and its weighting mask become progressively less important. This algorithm then merges asymptotically with the perfect reconstruction method found by Servières et al. in 2004. However the Servières approach, for which the PSF must exactly tile the full area of the reconstructed image, requires O(N²) uniformly distributed projection angles to reconstruct N×N data. The independence of each (back-) projected view makes our algorithm robust to random, symmetrically distributed noise. We present, as results, images reconstructed from sets of O(N) projected view angles that are either uniformly distributed, randomly selected, or clustered about orthogonal axes

Tomographie et géométrie discrètes avec la transformée Mojette

We explore through this thesis the insights of discrete tomography over classical tomography in continuous space. We use the Mojette transform, a discrete and exact form of the Radon transform, as a link between classical tomography and discrete tomography. We focus especially on the study of the discrete space induced by the Mojette transform operator through four research axis.Axis 1 focuses on the Mojette space properties in regards to discrete affine transforms of digital images. We provide tools to achieve affine transforms directly from the projections of a digital object, without preliminary tomographic reconstruction. This property is well-known for the continuous Radon transform but non-trivial for its sampled versions.Axis 2 seeks for some links between continuous-sampled projections related to medical imaging acquisition modalities and discrete projections derived by the Mojette transform. We implement interpolation schemes to estimate discrete projections from the continuous ones — on either synthetic or real data — and their reconstruction.In axis 3, we provide an algebraic framework for the description and inversion of the Mojette transform. The input data, the projections as well as the operators are modeled as polynomials. Within this framework, the Mojette projection operator advantageously reduce to a Vandermonde matrix.This thesis has been realized at both IRCCyN Lab and Keosys company within the Quanticardi FUI project. Axis 4 focuses on the design and the implementation of a clinical software for the absolute quantification of myocardial perfusion with positron emission tomography.Dans cette thèse, nous explorons les voies offertes par la tomographie discrète par rapport à la tomographie classique en milieu continu. Nous utilisons la transformée Mojette, version discrète et exacte de la transformée de Radon, que nous présentons comme un lien entre la tomographie classique et la tomographie discrète. Nous nous attachons à l’étude de l’espace sous-jacent à l’opérateur de transformée Mojette. Ce travail se décline suivant quatre axes de recherche.L’axe 1 est consacré au comportement de l’espace Mojette pour les transformations affines discrètes de l’image. Nous montrons qu’il est possible de réaliser certaines transformations affines directement à partir des projections discrètes d’un objet, sans reconstruction préalable.L’axe 2 consiste à examiner les liens entre les projections continues issues de modalités d’acquisitions en imagerie médicale et celles obtenues par transformée Mojette. Nous présentons différentes méthodes d’estimation des projections discrètes à partir de projections continues — réelles ou simulées — et leur reconstruction.L’axe 3 a pour objet l’inversion algébrique de la transformée Mojette. Les données d’entrée, les projections et les opérateurs sont modélisés par des polynômes. Ce formalisme, relevant de la tomographie discrète, permet d’exprimer la matrice de transformation Mojette sous forme Vandermonde.Cette thèse a été réalisée conjointement à l’IRCCyN et à Keosys dans le cadre du projet FUI Quanticardi. L’axe 4 est dédié à la conception et au développement d’un logiciel de quantification absolue de la perfusion myocardique en tomographie par émission de positons