Using a digital anatomical phantom to optimize an imaging system

We seek to optimize a SPECT brain-imaging system for the task of detecting a small tumor located at random in the brain. To do so, we have created a computer model. The model includes three-dimensional, digital brain phantoms which can be quickly modified to simulate multiple patients. The phantoms are then projected geometrically through multiple pinholes. Our figure of merit is the Hotelling trace, a measure of detectability by the ideal linear observer. The Hotelling trace allows us to quantitatively measure a system's ability to perform a specific task. Because the Hotelling trace requires a large number of samples, we reduce the dimensionality of our images using Laguerre-Gauss functions as channels. To illustrate our method, we compare a system built from small high-resolution cameras to one utilizing larger, low-resolution cameras.