Three-dimensional image reconstruction for time-domain fluorescence molecular tomography based on generalized pulse spectrum technique

A linear generalized pulse spectrum technique for image reconstruction of fluorescence molecular tomography is proposed. The algorithm employs a finite element method solution to the Laplace-transformed coupled diffusion equations and can simultaneously reconstruct both fluorescent yield and lifetime images of fluorophores. The proposed algorithm was validated using simulated data for 3D phantoms. We investigated the ability of the algorithm to reconstruct the fluorescent yield and lifetime at different region, contrasted the imaging quality of different target lifetime and proved the noise-robustness by using noisy data with different signal-to-noise ratio. The results show that the approach accurately retrieves the position and shape of the target and prove the effectiveness of the methodology.