Kebin Jia

An optimal permissible source region strategy for multispectral bioluminescence tomography

Multispectral bioluminescence tomography (BLT) attracts increasing more attention in the area of small animal studies because multispectral data acquisition could help in the 3D location of bioluminescent sources. Generally, BLT problem is ill-posed and a priori information is indispensable to reconstruction bioluminescent source uniquely and quantitatively. In this paper, we propose a spectrally solved bioluminescence tomography algorithm with an optimal permissible source region strategy. Being the most different from earlier studies, an optimal permissible source region strategy which is automatically selected without human intervention is developed to reduce the ill-posedness of BLT and therefore improves the reconstruction quality. Furthermore, both numerical stability and computational efficiency benefit from the strategy. In the numerical experiments, a heterogeneous phantom is used to evaluate the proposed algorithm and the synthetic data is produced by Monte Carlo method for avoiding the inverse crime. The results demonstrate the feasibility and potential of our methodology for reconstructing the distribution of bioluminescent sources.

Three-dimensional Bioluminescence Tomography based on Bayesian Approach

Bioluminescence tomography (BLT) poses a typical ill-posed inverse problem with a large number of unknowns and a relatively limited number of boundary measurements. It is indispensable to incorporate a priori information into the inverse problem formulation in order to obtain viable solutions. In the paper, Bayesian approach has been firstly suggested to incorporate multiple types of a priori information for BLT reconstruction. Meanwhile, a generalized adaptive Gaussian Markov random field (GAGMRF) prior model for unknown source density estimation is developed to further reduce the ill-posedness of BLT on the basis of finite element analysis. Then the distribution of bioluminescent source can be acquired by maximizing the log posterior probability with respect to a noise parameter and the unknown source density. Furthermore, the use of finite element method makes the algorithm appropriate for complex heterogeneous phantom. The algorithm was validated by numerical simulation of a 3-D micro-CT mouse atlas and physical phantom experiment. The reconstructed results suggest that we are able to achieve high computational efficiency and accurate localization of bioluminescent source.

Total variation regularization for bioluminescence tomography with the split Bregman method

Regularization methods have been broadly applied to bioluminescence tomography (BLT) to obtain stable solutions, including l2 and l1 regularizations. However, l2 regularization can oversmooth reconstructed images and l1 regularization may sparsify the source distribution, which degrades image quality. In this paper, the use of total variation (TV) regularization in BLT is investigated. Since a nonnegativity constraint can lead to improved image quality, the nonnegative constraint should be considered in BLT. However, TV regularization with a nonnegativity constraint is extremely difficult to solve due to its nondifferentiability and nonlinearity. The aim of this work is to validate the split Bregman method to minimize the TV regularization problem with a nonnegativity constraint for BLT. The performance of split Bregman-resolved TV (SBRTV) based BLT reconstruction algorithm was verified with numerical and in vivo experiments. Experimental results demonstrate that the SBRTV regularization can provide better regularization quality over l2 and l1 regularizations.

An adaptive regularization parameter choice strategy for multispectral bioluminescence tomography

PURPOSE Bioluminescence tomography (BLT) provides an effective tool for monitoring physiological and pathological activities in vivo. However, the measured data in bioluminescence imaging are corrupted by noise. Therefore, regularization methods are commonly used to find a regularized solution. Nevertheless, for the quality of the reconstructed bioluminescent source obtained by regularization methods, the choice of the regularization parameters is crucial. To date, the selection of regularization parameters remains challenging. With regards to the above problems, the authors proposed a BLT reconstruction algorithm with an adaptive parameter choice rule. METHODS The proposed reconstruction algorithm uses a diffusion equation for modeling the bioluminescent photon transport. The diffusion equation is solved with a finite element method. Computed tomography (CT) images provide anatomical information regarding the geometry of the small animal and its internal organs. To reduce the ill-posedness of BLT, spectral information and the optimal permissible source region are employed. Then, the relationship between the unknown source distribution and multiview and multispectral boundary measurements is established based on the finite element method and the optimal permissible source region. Since the measured data are noisy, the BLT reconstruction is formulated as l(2) data fidelity and a general regularization term. When choosing the regularization parameters for BLT, an efficient model function approach is proposed, which does not require knowledge of the noise level. This approach only requests the computation of the residual and regularized solution norm. With this knowledge, we construct the model function to approximate the objective function, and the regularization parameter is updated iteratively. RESULTS First, the micro-CT based mouse phantom was used for simulation verification. Simulation experiments were used to illustrate why multispectral data were used rather than monochromatic data. Furthermore, the study conducted using an adaptive regularization parameter demonstrated our ability to accurately localize the bioluminescent source. With the adaptively estimated regularization parameter, the reconstructed center position of the source was (20.37, 31.05, 12.95) mm, and the distance to the real source was 0.63 mm. The results of the dual-source experiments further showed that our algorithm could localize the bioluminescent sources accurately. The authors then presented experimental evidence that the proposed algorithm exhibited its calculated efficiency over the heuristic method. The effectiveness of the new algorithm was also confirmed by comparing it with the L-curve method. Furthermore, various initial speculations regarding the regularization parameter were used to illustrate the convergence of our algorithm. Finally, in vivo mouse experiment further illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. CONCLUSIONS Utilizing numerical, physical phantom and in vivo examples, we demonstrated that the bioluminescent sources could be reconstructed accurately with automatic regularization parameters. The proposed algorithm exhibited superior performance than both the heuristic regularization parameter choice method and L-curve method based on the computational speed and localization error.

Bioluminescence Tomography Imaging In Vivo: Recent Advances

We review the current state-of-the-art of bioluminescence tomography (BLT) imaging, which is an emerging technique for monitoring and assessment of biological processes in vivo. The aim of BLT is to reconstruct 3-D distribution of the internal bioluminescent source using boundary measurements acquired by a BLT imaging system. Thus, BLT becomes a task of solving an inverse problem with an appropriate photon propagation model. In this paper, we discuss recent advances in models of photon transport, and review in detail the current techniques for BLT reconstructions. Specifically, we consider the reconstruction algorithms based on the permissible source region strategy, and multispectral and regularization techniques. The progress in the BLT imaging system is also briefly introduced. Finally, future challenges are also discussed.

Sparse Reconstruction for Bioluminescence Tomography Based on the Semigreedy Method

Bioluminescence tomography (BLT) is a molecular imaging modality which can three-dimensionally resolve the molecular processes in small animals in vivo. The ill-posedness nature of BLT problem makes its reconstruction bears nonunique solution and is sensitive to noise. In this paper, we proposed a sparse BLT reconstruction algorithm based on semigreedy method. To reduce the ill-posedness and computational cost, the optimal permissible source region was automatically chosen by using an iterative search tree. The proposed method obtained fast and stable source reconstruction from the whole body and imposed constraint without using a regularization penalty term. Numerical simulations on a mouse atlas, and in vivo mouse experiments were conducted to validate the effectiveness and potential of the method.

Efficient sparse reconstruction algorithm for bioluminescence tomography based on duality and variable splitting

Bioluminescence tomography (BLT) can three-dimensionally and quantitatively resolve the molecular processes in small animals in vivo. In this paper, we propose a BLT reconstruction algorithm based on duality and variable splitting. By using duality and variable splitting to obtain a new equivalent constrained optimization problem and updating the primal variable as the Lagrangian multiplier in the dual augmented Lagrangian problem, the proposed method can obtain fast and stable source reconstruction even without the permissible source region and multispectral measurements. Numerical simulations on a mouse atlas and in vivo mouse experiments were conducted to validate the effectiveness and potential of the method.

Sparse Bayesian reconstruction method for multispectral bioluminescence tomography

We present a sparse Bayesian reconstruction method based on multiple types of a priori information for multispectral bioluminescence tomography (BLT). In the Bayesian approach, five kinds of a priori information are incorporated, reducing the ill-posedness of BLT. Specifically, source sparsity characteristic is considered to promote reconstruction results. Considering the computational burden in the multispectral case, a series of strategies is adopted to improve computational efficiency, such as optimal permissible source region strategy and node model of the finite element method. The performance of the proposed algorithm is validated by a heterogeneous three-dimensional (3D) micron scale computed tomography atlas and a mouse-shaped phantom. Reconstructed results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

An efficient reconstruction method for bioluminescence tomography based on two-step iterative shrinkage approach

Among many molecular imaging modalities, Bioluminescence tomography (BLT) is an important optical molecular imaging modality. Due to its unique advantages in specificity, sensitivity, cost-effectiveness and low background noise, BLT is widely studied for live small animal imaging. Since only the photon distribution over the surface is measurable and the photo propagation with biological tissue is highly diffusive, BLT is often an ill-posed problem and may bear multiple solutions and aberrant reconstruction in the presence of measurement noise and optical parameter mismatches. For many BLT practical applications, such as early detection of tumors, the volumes of the light sources are very small compared with the whole body. Therefore, the L1-norm sparsity regularization has been used to take advantage of the sparsity prior knowledge and alleviate the ill-posedness of the problem. Iterative shrinkage (IST) algorithm is an important research achievement in a field of compressed sensing and widely applied in sparse signal reconstruction. However, the convergence rate of IST algorithm depends heavily on the linear operator. When the problem is ill-posed, it becomes very slow. In this paper, we present a sparsity regularization reconstruction method for BLT based on the two-step iterated shrinkage approach. By employing Two-step strategy of iterative reweighted shrinkage (IRS) to improve IST, the proposed method shows faster convergence rate and better adaptability for BLT. The simulation experiments with mouse atlas were conducted to evaluate the performance of proposed method. By contrast, the proposed method can obtain the stable and comparable reconstruction solution with less number of iterations.

Bioluminescence tomography based on Bayesian approach

As a new mode of molecular imaging, bioluminescence tomography (BLT) will have significant effect on revealing the molecular and cellular information in vivo at the whole-body small animal level because of its high sensitive detection and facile operation. However, BLT is an ill-posed problem, it is necessary to incorporate a priori knowledge into the tomographic algorithm. In this paper, a novel Bayesian reconstruction algorithm for BLT is firstly proposed. In the algorithm, a priori permissible source region strategy is incorporated into the Bayesian network to reduce the ill-posedness of BLT. Then a generalized adaptive Gaussian Markov random field (GAGMRF) prior model for unknown source density estimation is developed to further reduce the ill-posedness of BLT on the basis of adaptive finite element analysis. Finally, the algorithm maximizes the log posterior probability with respect to a noise parameter and the unknown source density, the distribution of bioluminescent source can be reconstructed. In addition, the novel tomography algorithm based adaptive finite element makes the method more appropriate for complex phantom such as real mouse. In the numerical simulation, a heterogeneous phantom is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm with the Monte Carlo based synthetic data. The accurate localization of bioluminescent source and quantitative results show the effectiveness and potential of the tomographic algorithm for BLT.