1. Field
The following description relates to methods and apparatuses for generating a response of a scanner in an imaging apparatus and the following description also relates to methods and apparatuses for generating a medical image using the system response.
2. Description of Related Art
Medical imaging devices for acquiring information about the inside of the human body and as images for diagnosis provide information necessary to diagnose diseases. Medical imaging methods currently being used or developed in hospitals are mainly classified into biological imaging techniques and anatomical imaging techniques. Representative examples of anatomical imaging techniques include Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) or Computed Tomography (CT) which provide high-resolution, detailed anatomical images. These imaging techniques create two-dimensional (2D) cross-sectional images of the human body and three-dimensional (3D) images using 2D images at a high resolution. These imaging techniques show the exact locations and shapes of organs of the human body. A representative example of biological imaging techniques is Positron Emission Tomography (PET) that images the metabolic activity in the human body and detects abnormalities of the metabolic activity.
A PET imaging technique includes generating a particular radioactive tracer that emits positrons as a substance that participates in the metabolic activity inside the human body, introducing the tracer into the human body by intravenous injection or inhalation, detecting two 511-keV gamma rays that are emitted in opposite directions when positrons emitted by the tracer combine with nearby electrons by using an external device so as to track the location of the tracer, and monitoring the distribution of the tracer and a change in tracer distribution over time.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds