Fast SPECT simulation including object shape dependent scatter.

A fast simulator of SPECT projection data taking into account attenuation, distance dependent detector response, and scatter has been developed, based on an analytical point spread function model. The parameters of the scatter response are obtained from a single line source measurement with a triangular phantom. The simulator is able to include effects of object curvature on the scatter response to a high accuracy. The simulator has been evaluated for homogeneous media by measurements of (99m)Tc point sources placed at different locations in a water-filled cylinder at energy windows of 15% and 20%. The asymmetrical shapes of measured projections of point sources are In excellent agreement with simulations for both energy windows. Scatter-to-primary ratio (SPR) calculations of point sources at different positions in a cylindrical phantom differ not more than a few percent from measurements. The simulator uses just a few megabytes of memory for storing the tables representing the forward model; furthermore, simulation of 60 SPECT projections from a three-dimensional digital brain phantom with 6-mm cubic voxels takes only ten minutes on a standard workstation. Therefore, the simulator could serve as a projector in iterative true 3-D SPECT reconstruction.