Integration of SimSET photon history generator in GATE for efficient Monte Carlo simulations of pinhole SPECT

Chia Lin Chen; Yuchuan Wang; Jason J.S. Lee; Benjamin M.W. Tsui

doi:10.1118/1.2940159

Integration of SimSET photon history generator in GATE for efficient Monte Carlo simulations of pinhole SPECT

Chia Lin Chen, Yuchuan Wang, Jason J.S. Lee, Benjamin M.W. Tsui

School of Medicine

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

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

The authors developed and validated an efficient Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) workflow to facilitate small animal pinhole SPECT imaging research. This workflow seamlessly integrates two existing MCS tools: simulation system for emission tomography (SimSET) and GEANT4 application for emission tomography (GATE). Specifically, we retained the strength of GATE in describing complex collimator/detector configurations to meet the anticipated needs for studying advanced pinhole collimation (e.g., multipinhole) geometry, while inserting the fast SimSET photon history generator (PHG) to circumvent the relatively slow GEANT4 MCS code used by GATE in simulating photon interactions inside voxelized phantoms. For validation, data generated from this new SimSET-GATE workflow were compared with those from GATE-only simulations as well as experimental measurements obtained using a commercial small animal pinhole SPECT system. Our results showed excellent agreement (e.g., in system point response functions and energy spectra) between SimSET-GATE and GATE-only simulations, and, more importantly, a significant computational speedup (up to ∼10 -fold) provided by the new workflow. Satisfactory agreement between MCS results and experimental data were also observed. In conclusion, the authors have successfully integrated SimSET photon history generator in GATE for fast and realistic pinhole SPECT simulations, which can facilitate research in, for example, the development and application of quantitative pinhole and multipinhole SPECT for small animal imaging. This integrated simulation tool can also be adapted for studying other preclinical and clinical SPECT techniques.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	3278-3284
Number of pages	7
Journal	Medical physics
Volume	35
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1118/1.2940159
State	Published - 2008

Keywords

GATE
Monte Carlo simulation
SPECT
SimSET

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Biophysics
Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging

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10.1118/1.2940159

Cite this

@article{27f4087b5dec41799adeb3fea6893116,

title = "Integration of SimSET photon history generator in GATE for efficient Monte Carlo simulations of pinhole SPECT",

abstract = "The authors developed and validated an efficient Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) workflow to facilitate small animal pinhole SPECT imaging research. This workflow seamlessly integrates two existing MCS tools: simulation system for emission tomography (SimSET) and GEANT4 application for emission tomography (GATE). Specifically, we retained the strength of GATE in describing complex collimator/detector configurations to meet the anticipated needs for studying advanced pinhole collimation (e.g., multipinhole) geometry, while inserting the fast SimSET photon history generator (PHG) to circumvent the relatively slow GEANT4 MCS code used by GATE in simulating photon interactions inside voxelized phantoms. For validation, data generated from this new SimSET-GATE workflow were compared with those from GATE-only simulations as well as experimental measurements obtained using a commercial small animal pinhole SPECT system. Our results showed excellent agreement (e.g., in system point response functions and energy spectra) between SimSET-GATE and GATE-only simulations, and, more importantly, a significant computational speedup (up to ∼10 -fold) provided by the new workflow. Satisfactory agreement between MCS results and experimental data were also observed. In conclusion, the authors have successfully integrated SimSET photon history generator in GATE for fast and realistic pinhole SPECT simulations, which can facilitate research in, for example, the development and application of quantitative pinhole and multipinhole SPECT for small animal imaging. This integrated simulation tool can also be adapted for studying other preclinical and clinical SPECT techniques.",

keywords = "GATE, Monte Carlo simulation, SPECT, SimSET",

author = "Chen, {Chia Lin} and Yuchuan Wang and Lee, {Jason J.S.} and Tsui, {Benjamin M.W.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Dr. Mikhail Shilov for his contributions to the initial coding implementations of the integrated SimSET and GATE MSC codes for clinical PET and Dr. Yong Du for his valuable suggestions. They also thank Dr. Martin Pomper and the Johns Hopkins Small Animal Imaging Resource Program (SAIRP) and Small Animal Imaging Facility for generously making the X-SPECT system available to the project. The project is partially supported by the U.S. Public Health Service Grant Nos. EB168, EB1558, and CA92871, as well as Taiwan Merit Scholarship 2005.",

year = "2008",

doi = "10.1118/1.2940159",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "35",

pages = "3278--3284",

journal = "Medical Physics",

issn = "0094-2405",

publisher = "AAPM - American Association of Physicists in Medicine",

number = "7",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Integration of SimSET photon history generator in GATE for efficient Monte Carlo simulations of pinhole SPECT

AU - Chen, Chia Lin

AU - Wang, Yuchuan

AU - Lee, Jason J.S.

AU - Tsui, Benjamin M.W.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Dr. Mikhail Shilov for his contributions to the initial coding implementations of the integrated SimSET and GATE MSC codes for clinical PET and Dr. Yong Du for his valuable suggestions. They also thank Dr. Martin Pomper and the Johns Hopkins Small Animal Imaging Resource Program (SAIRP) and Small Animal Imaging Facility for generously making the X-SPECT system available to the project. The project is partially supported by the U.S. Public Health Service Grant Nos. EB168, EB1558, and CA92871, as well as Taiwan Merit Scholarship 2005.

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - The authors developed and validated an efficient Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) workflow to facilitate small animal pinhole SPECT imaging research. This workflow seamlessly integrates two existing MCS tools: simulation system for emission tomography (SimSET) and GEANT4 application for emission tomography (GATE). Specifically, we retained the strength of GATE in describing complex collimator/detector configurations to meet the anticipated needs for studying advanced pinhole collimation (e.g., multipinhole) geometry, while inserting the fast SimSET photon history generator (PHG) to circumvent the relatively slow GEANT4 MCS code used by GATE in simulating photon interactions inside voxelized phantoms. For validation, data generated from this new SimSET-GATE workflow were compared with those from GATE-only simulations as well as experimental measurements obtained using a commercial small animal pinhole SPECT system. Our results showed excellent agreement (e.g., in system point response functions and energy spectra) between SimSET-GATE and GATE-only simulations, and, more importantly, a significant computational speedup (up to ∼10 -fold) provided by the new workflow. Satisfactory agreement between MCS results and experimental data were also observed. In conclusion, the authors have successfully integrated SimSET photon history generator in GATE for fast and realistic pinhole SPECT simulations, which can facilitate research in, for example, the development and application of quantitative pinhole and multipinhole SPECT for small animal imaging. This integrated simulation tool can also be adapted for studying other preclinical and clinical SPECT techniques.

AB - The authors developed and validated an efficient Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) workflow to facilitate small animal pinhole SPECT imaging research. This workflow seamlessly integrates two existing MCS tools: simulation system for emission tomography (SimSET) and GEANT4 application for emission tomography (GATE). Specifically, we retained the strength of GATE in describing complex collimator/detector configurations to meet the anticipated needs for studying advanced pinhole collimation (e.g., multipinhole) geometry, while inserting the fast SimSET photon history generator (PHG) to circumvent the relatively slow GEANT4 MCS code used by GATE in simulating photon interactions inside voxelized phantoms. For validation, data generated from this new SimSET-GATE workflow were compared with those from GATE-only simulations as well as experimental measurements obtained using a commercial small animal pinhole SPECT system. Our results showed excellent agreement (e.g., in system point response functions and energy spectra) between SimSET-GATE and GATE-only simulations, and, more importantly, a significant computational speedup (up to ∼10 -fold) provided by the new workflow. Satisfactory agreement between MCS results and experimental data were also observed. In conclusion, the authors have successfully integrated SimSET photon history generator in GATE for fast and realistic pinhole SPECT simulations, which can facilitate research in, for example, the development and application of quantitative pinhole and multipinhole SPECT for small animal imaging. This integrated simulation tool can also be adapted for studying other preclinical and clinical SPECT techniques.

KW - GATE

KW - Monte Carlo simulation

KW - SPECT

KW - SimSET

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JO - Medical Physics

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Integration of SimSET photon history generator in GATE for efficient Monte Carlo simulations of pinhole SPECT

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