Interdisciplinary Project (IDP) with minor Medicine: Attenuation map estimation in PET/MR reconstruction

Attenuation correction of positron emission (PET) data is mandatory for the reconstruction of diagnostic images. In the context of future simultaneous whole body PET/MR devices, it would be desirable to derive attenuation information from magnetic resonance (MR) images. However, the field of view of the MR is limited, leading to incomplete images. Recently, several approaches have been proposed to obtain the missing attenuation information from the raw PET data.

The main goal of this project will be the investigation and implementation of a pre-selected algorithm from the state-of-the-art literature.

Depending on the particular interests of the student, the work can be extended with:
- Identification of additional algorithms for this problem (literature research)
- Validation of the algorithm on phantom and patient data.
- Comparison of the algorithm with segmentation-based approaches.

Good programming skills in either C++ or Matlab are required for this project.

The project is to be done at the Nuclear Medicine Department, Klinikum Rechts der Isar.

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