An inter-crystal scatter correction method for DOI PET image reconstruction.

New PET scanners utilize depth-of-interaction (DOI) information to improve image resolution, particularly at the edge of field-of-view while maintaining high detector sensitivity. However, the inter-crystal scatter (ICS) effect cannot be neglected in DOI scanners due to the use of smaller crystals. ICS is the phenomenon wherein there are multiple scintillations for irradiation of a gamma photon due to Compton scatter in detecting crystals. In the case of ICS, only one scintillation position is approximated for detectors with Anger-type logic calculation. This causes an error in position detection and ICS worsens the image contrast, particularly for smaller hotspots. In this study, we propose to model an ICS probability by using a Monte Carlo simulator. The probability is given as a statistical relationship between the gamma photon first interaction crystal pair and the detected crystal pair. It is then used to improve the system matrix of a statistical image reconstruction algorithm, such as ML-EM in order to correct for the position error caused by ICS. We apply the proposed method to simulated data of the jPET-D4, which is a four-layer DOI PET being developed at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences. Our computer simulations show that image contrast is recovered successfully by the proposed method.