Abstract: Methods and systems for imaging by using a filter for Time-Of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography (TOF PET) are described. The described methods of imaging a patient by using a positron emission tomography (PET) system includes acquiring a plurality of frames of sinogram data, filtering the acquired sinogram data and back-projecting the filtered sinogram data to form an output image of the patient. The acquired sinogram data defines a line of response (LOR) and a time-of-flight (TOF) measurement that localizes positron annihilation within the patient. The filtering of the acquired sinogram data is performed using the TOF measurement.

Abstract: Methods and systems for imaging a patient are provided. The method includes determining a location of a volume of interest within the patient and acquiring a plurality of frames of emission data, at least one frame including the volume of interest. The method further includes determining a time-of-flight (TOF) information of at least a portion of the annihilations detected along a line of response between corresponding coincidence detectors and generating an image of the patient from the emission data using the determined TOF information.

Abstract: Methods and systems for image overlap correction are provided. The method includes acquiring the emission projection data from a plurality of scan frames that extend across at least a portion of a length of an object being imaged wherein elements of the object lie between a region of overlap between two successive frames. The method further includes iteratively reconstructing a 3D image volume from multi-frame emission projection data by updating an estimate of 3D image volume using emission projection data from the plurality of frames within an iterative reconstruction loop.