Spectral photon degradation model for energy-dependent scatter correction

This work presents a new photon degradation model in emission imaging. By considering both spatial and spectral factors, the model provides a comprehensive description of the physical processes of photon scattering and detection in multiple energy window acquisition systems. The model is used to analyze the merits and deficiencies of spectral scatter correction methods, such as the Dual Energy Window (DEW), Multispectral Frame-by-frame (MF) and Holospectral Imaging (HI). The analysis is focused on assessment of the key assumptions on which these techniques are based. The proposed degradation model bridges the gap between these scatter correction approaches and the underlying physical assumptions by providing an analytical description of the energy-dependent scattering processes in the object and detector sub-systems. Such a description is useful for analyzing and modifying the existing scatter correction methods as well as developing new techniques based on energy information.