Journal of X-Ray Science and Technology 12 (2004) 169-177 169 108 Press Ordered-subset simultaneous algebraic reconstruction techniques (OS-SART) Ge Wang" and Ming Jiang” "Department of Radiology, University of lowa, lowa City, IA 52242, USA Exmail: ge-wang @ieee.org: URL: hutp:/dolphin.radiology.uiowa.edu/ge DLMAM, School of Mathematical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R. China E-mail: jiangm@ math pku.edu.en; URL: http:Uict.radiology.uiowa.edw~jiangm Abstract. In this paper, we frst demonstrate that two ondered-subset simaltancous algebraic reconstruction techniques (OS- SART) can be hcurstcaly derived from the perspective of data ectification. ‘Then, we stuly the convergence i the framework ‘of our recent work on the OS version ofthe Landwehr schome, The fist OS-SART is the same asthe BSSART formula. which isa special case of the OS version ofthe Landwehr scheme. Hence, it converges in the weighted leas! square sense even in the case of inconsistent data. Both the OS-SART formulas are tested for reconstruction of CT images from practiea data Keywords: Computed tomography (CT) techniques (SART), conversence ratve reconstruction, ordered-subvets (05), simultaneous algebraic reconstruction | 1, Introduction ‘Many imaging systems, such as CT scanners, are modeled by the following equation [1,21 Ar =, a where data b = (b,---,6M) € RY, an unknown image x = (x),---,y) € R™, and a known non-zero matrix = (ay). A direct solution is usually not feasible because of a huge amount of data involved. ‘The algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) [3]. also referred to as the Kaczmarz method [4], is the first iteritive algorithm used in CT: set) ln) “(4 Aig) Q geet a af + nga Ala!) nm =0,1, @ where § = n mod (M) + 1, ||A‘\[? = 30}; a2; is the Euclidean norm of the i-th row of A. The simultaneous alggbraic reconstruction technique (SART) [5} is a major refinement to the ART: oo i (mst) _ TAi5 (yf gigtod af = 1) 4, SY 89 (yf — ain), °) Parada ( ) (0895-3996/04/817.00 © 2004 — 10 Press and the authors, All rights reserved170 G. Wang und M. Stang / Ordered-subset simultaneous algebraic reconstruction techniques where we require that WN, a x a a4 = yj FOF =e May = Yay #05 Note that a, 0 means that the measure b; is informative; while a, # O indicates that the unknown ty is observable. If either of the requirements is not satisfied, the system can be easily pre-conditioned to mect the requirement ‘The success of the EM algorithm has been well known [6-8}, and significantly magnified by ordered- subset techniques [9-11]. In the literature of projection methods, ordered subsets (OS) are commonly called block-iterative methods [2]. For the ART. its OS version was proposed in [12], and successfully applied to, ¢.g., cone-heam tomography in [13]. For the SARTT, its OS versions were first studied in 14]. ‘There are more general block-iterative methods (2]. {In terms of either the statistical foundation or the deterministic objective, the SART Is considered as an important counterpart of the EM algorithm [15-18]. While the EM and OS-EM algorithms only work in the nonnegative space, the SART and OS-SART work in the real space. In this paper. we heuristically derive the BSSART formula and another OS-SART formula, both of which were proposed in [14], establish the convergence of the whole sequence of the BSSART even in the inconsistent case, and reconstruct CT images from practical data using both the OS-SART formulas. 2. Heuristic derivation First, we consider the ease that ay; > 0. Given a current guess 2‘), we can synthesize data Ax), ‘Then, we compare b! with Ala” using the difference bi — Aéx'") component-wisely to obtain a hint for updating = 0, ie., no need to update «'"); ) > 0, ie. a") should be increased: BF Aig) = <0, 2"! should be decreased. For that by, we may rectify 2") as follows: » » my, BE Alm? BF Ata] + Aba = [BF AM) + aise = Dray fal + =|. © u i i x i a ‘That is, the difference from a given ! can be eliminated by replacing 2\" with 2") +-#=4'=". However, the rectifying factor ¥=4'2" depends on i, Naturally, the overall rectifying factor can be computed by averaging individual rectifying factors over i according to the relative rectifying weight (RAW) 2. Clearly, 74 quantifies the relative contribution of «\"? leads to the SART, formula in the nonnegative space: om nh Soe 5 = Ae) ej die to Aén™, since all ay; are nonnegative. This ef) n=O, aG. Wang and M. Jiang / Ordered-subset simultaneous algebraic reconstruction techniques m Next, we assume a,; takes any real number, which brings a difficulty in quantifying the relative contri- bution of 2") to A¥x(). Not to be confused with the previous definitions of a; and a.,), from now on we use the following definitions whose rationale should be clear later: ais =P lag #08 = 1 Mia N (8) Let us introduce intermediate variables yj = 33, j= 1 and yy = 2) Ntie 1 now represents the corresponding 2NV-dimensional veetor. Assume that data by remain the same, Le. » represents the corresponding data vector. Let us define G = (ge). where gi; = H(|iy| + ai;).f = y+, j= N+ 1,++-,2N, describe the contribution of 1; t0 bi. i have an equivalent imaging system: nd gay = Hleayy—N] ~ symp) wM. Clearly, guy > 0. Then, we Gy=6. o Since components of C= (yi;) are nonnegative, the SART formula can be directly used: a fo {n+l) imp Gj 4 — Gy! Yr ay 4 BOT 0) ae Te Mi gig = Said = he? A 9: = T38) giy = ais #0. Without lose of generality, we assume that 94) #0. If gy) = {hy = 0. Im this ease, we just need to define 2 = 0, Then, we should utilize the knowledge that where gis = 2%, 94 and Gy) = Ate, Note that | we have Wy = tyne = 1 N, ay Por a fixed 2) = yy = -wysn, j = 1,+++,.N, im each SART iteration we have the two rectifying quantities (o be added to ;, corresponding to y, andy; Mu 4 gy bi Giy™ y= 7 a ai aM 3 fo Btn) Because the overall reetitcation should balance between cr; and /;, we need a weighted average of a; , and 3). Specifically, the absolute weights for «; and 4 should respectively be u a3) ‘Therefore, the overall rectifying quantity to be added to 2 can be computed as Follows: at a du cyt) © guia Gy) 949 FE — ga ceny So pubes eel A % ° % jag tm ue x ses t ny 3 Z 4) wry au ; Y low + 915401