A Novel Method in PET Image Reconstruction Using MRI Anatomical Priors

M. Mehdi Khalighi; Christina B. Young; Matthew G. Spangler-Bickell; Timothy W. Deller; Floris Jansen; Dawn Holley; Hillary Vossler; Moss Y. Zhao; Feliks Kogan; Gary Steinberg; Elizabeth Mormino; Michael Moseley; Greg Zaharchuk

doi:10.1109/TRPMS.2025.3553409

A Novel Method in PET Image Reconstruction Using MRI Anatomical Priors

M. Mehdi Khalighi
, Christina B. Young
, Matthew G. Spangler-Bickell
, Timothy W. Deller
, Floris Jansen
, Dawn Holley
, Hillary Vossler
, Moss Y. Zhao
, Feliks Kogan
, Gary Steinberg
, Elizabeth Mormino
, Michael Moseley
, Greg Zaharchuk

Radar and Computational Imaging

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The current spatial resolution of positron emission tomography (PET) images is 3–4 mm for whole body PET/MR. Anatomical MR images with higher resolution and superior image quality have been used in PET reconstruction to improve the image quality and spatial resolution; however, mismatches between MR priors and actual tracer distribution can hinder accuracy. A novel PET reconstruction with MR priors, magnetic resonance-guided block sequential regularized expectation maximum (MRgBSREM), that is robust to mismatches between anatomical priors and true activity distribution is proposed. This method is evaluated in diverse clinical settings using various tracers: ¹⁸F-florbetaben (FBB) in 373 subjects from a dementia study, ¹⁸F-FDG in a patient with chronic ischemic stroke, ¹⁸F-NaF in a knee study, and ¹⁵O-water in a patient with Moyamoya disease. Reconstruction using MRgBSREM visually improved both spatial resolution and image quality in all studies. In the ¹⁸FBB study, it mitigated white-matter spill-in into gray-matter as well as gray-matter spill over to the adjacent tissues, potentially leading to more accurate measurement of FBB uptake in the gray-matter. Visual assessment suggests that the proposed PET reconstruction enhances spatial resolution, which may contribute to improved diagnostic accuracy, while it displays robustness to mismatches between MR priors and true activity distribution.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1074-1082
Number of pages	9
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Radiation and Plasma Medical Sciences
Volume	9
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TRPMS.2025.3553409
State	Published - 2025

Funding

Received 11 January 2025; revised 22 February 2025; accepted 12 March 2025. Date of publication 20 March 2025; date of current version 5 November 2025. This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (USA) under Grant P41-EB015891, Grant R01-EB025220, Grant R01-AR079431, Grant R01-NS123025, Grant R21-AG058859, and Grant R56-AG071558; in part by the Stanford Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center under Grant P30-AG06615; in part by the Alzheimer’s Association under Grant AARFD-21-849349; in part by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine under Grant CLIN2-12379; in part by the American Heart Association under Grant 23SCEFIA1141920; in part by the GE HealthCare; and in part by the Life Molecular Imaging. (Corresponding author: M. Mehdi Khalighi.) This work involved human subjects or animals in its research. Approval of all ethical and experimental procedures and protocols was granted by Stanford’s Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Keywords

Anatomical priors
MRI
PET/MRI
image reconstruction
positron emission tomography (PET)

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10.1109/TRPMS.2025.3553409

Cite this

Khalighi, M. M., Young, C. B., Spangler-Bickell, M. G., Deller, T. W., Jansen, F., Holley, D., Vossler, H., Zhao, M. Y., Kogan, F., Steinberg, G., Mormino, E., Moseley, M., & Zaharchuk, G. (2025). A Novel Method in PET Image Reconstruction Using MRI Anatomical Priors. IEEE Transactions on Radiation and Plasma Medical Sciences, 9(8), 1074-1082. https://doi.org/10.1109/TRPMS.2025.3553409

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title = "A Novel Method in PET Image Reconstruction Using MRI Anatomical Priors",

abstract = "The current spatial resolution of positron emission tomography (PET) images is 3–4 mm for whole body PET/MR. Anatomical MR images with higher resolution and superior image quality have been used in PET reconstruction to improve the image quality and spatial resolution; however, mismatches between MR priors and actual tracer distribution can hinder accuracy. A novel PET reconstruction with MR priors, magnetic resonance-guided block sequential regularized expectation maximum (MRgBSREM), that is robust to mismatches between anatomical priors and true activity distribution is proposed. This method is evaluated in diverse clinical settings using various tracers: 18F-florbetaben (FBB) in 373 subjects from a dementia study, 18F-FDG in a patient with chronic ischemic stroke, 18F-NaF in a knee study, and 15O-water in a patient with Moyamoya disease. Reconstruction using MRgBSREM visually improved both spatial resolution and image quality in all studies. In the 18FBB study, it mitigated white-matter spill-in into gray-matter as well as gray-matter spill over to the adjacent tissues, potentially leading to more accurate measurement of FBB uptake in the gray-matter. Visual assessment suggests that the proposed PET reconstruction enhances spatial resolution, which may contribute to improved diagnostic accuracy, while it displays robustness to mismatches between MR priors and true activity distribution.",

keywords = "Anatomical priors, MRI, PET/MRI, image reconstruction, positron emission tomography (PET)",

author = "Khalighi, \{M. Mehdi\} and Young, \{Christina B.\} and Spangler-Bickell, \{Matthew G.\} and Deller, \{Timothy W.\} and Floris Jansen and Dawn Holley and Hillary Vossler and Zhao, \{Moss Y.\} and Feliks Kogan and Gary Steinberg and Elizabeth Mormino and Michael Moseley and Greg Zaharchuk",

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year = "2025",

doi = "10.1109/TRPMS.2025.3553409",

language = "English",

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Khalighi, MM, Young, CB, Spangler-Bickell, MG, Deller, TW, Jansen, F, Holley, D, Vossler, H, Zhao, MY, Kogan, F, Steinberg, G, Mormino, E, Moseley, M & Zaharchuk, G 2025, 'A Novel Method in PET Image Reconstruction Using MRI Anatomical Priors', IEEE Transactions on Radiation and Plasma Medical Sciences, vol. 9, no. 8, pp. 1074-1082. https://doi.org/10.1109/TRPMS.2025.3553409

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T1 - A Novel Method in PET Image Reconstruction Using MRI Anatomical Priors

AU - Khalighi, M. Mehdi

AU - Young, Christina B.

AU - Spangler-Bickell, Matthew G.

AU - Deller, Timothy W.

AU - Jansen, Floris

AU - Holley, Dawn

AU - Vossler, Hillary

AU - Zhao, Moss Y.

AU - Kogan, Feliks

AU - Steinberg, Gary

AU - Mormino, Elizabeth

AU - Moseley, Michael

AU - Zaharchuk, Greg

PY - 2025

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N2 - The current spatial resolution of positron emission tomography (PET) images is 3–4 mm for whole body PET/MR. Anatomical MR images with higher resolution and superior image quality have been used in PET reconstruction to improve the image quality and spatial resolution; however, mismatches between MR priors and actual tracer distribution can hinder accuracy. A novel PET reconstruction with MR priors, magnetic resonance-guided block sequential regularized expectation maximum (MRgBSREM), that is robust to mismatches between anatomical priors and true activity distribution is proposed. This method is evaluated in diverse clinical settings using various tracers: 18F-florbetaben (FBB) in 373 subjects from a dementia study, 18F-FDG in a patient with chronic ischemic stroke, 18F-NaF in a knee study, and 15O-water in a patient with Moyamoya disease. Reconstruction using MRgBSREM visually improved both spatial resolution and image quality in all studies. In the 18FBB study, it mitigated white-matter spill-in into gray-matter as well as gray-matter spill over to the adjacent tissues, potentially leading to more accurate measurement of FBB uptake in the gray-matter. Visual assessment suggests that the proposed PET reconstruction enhances spatial resolution, which may contribute to improved diagnostic accuracy, while it displays robustness to mismatches between MR priors and true activity distribution.

AB - The current spatial resolution of positron emission tomography (PET) images is 3–4 mm for whole body PET/MR. Anatomical MR images with higher resolution and superior image quality have been used in PET reconstruction to improve the image quality and spatial resolution; however, mismatches between MR priors and actual tracer distribution can hinder accuracy. A novel PET reconstruction with MR priors, magnetic resonance-guided block sequential regularized expectation maximum (MRgBSREM), that is robust to mismatches between anatomical priors and true activity distribution is proposed. This method is evaluated in diverse clinical settings using various tracers: 18F-florbetaben (FBB) in 373 subjects from a dementia study, 18F-FDG in a patient with chronic ischemic stroke, 18F-NaF in a knee study, and 15O-water in a patient with Moyamoya disease. Reconstruction using MRgBSREM visually improved both spatial resolution and image quality in all studies. In the 18FBB study, it mitigated white-matter spill-in into gray-matter as well as gray-matter spill over to the adjacent tissues, potentially leading to more accurate measurement of FBB uptake in the gray-matter. Visual assessment suggests that the proposed PET reconstruction enhances spatial resolution, which may contribute to improved diagnostic accuracy, while it displays robustness to mismatches between MR priors and true activity distribution.

KW - Anatomical priors

KW - MRI

KW - PET/MRI

KW - image reconstruction

KW - positron emission tomography (PET)

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105001048900

U2 - 10.1109/TRPMS.2025.3553409

DO - 10.1109/TRPMS.2025.3553409

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105001048900

SN - 2469-7311

VL - 9

SP - 1074

EP - 1082

JO - IEEE Transactions on Radiation and Plasma Medical Sciences

JF - IEEE Transactions on Radiation and Plasma Medical Sciences

IS - 8

ER -

A Novel Method in PET Image Reconstruction Using MRI Anatomical Priors

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