SPECT/PET Simulation Algorithm

process of setting up the system to be simulated; c) to implement a server architecture which enables users from other research facilities to employ this tool to support their own research projects; and d) to distribute the computational very expensive process of simulating (and reconstructing) data automatically over a set of available computers. Whereas the MC and reconstruction codes are written in C and implemented on Unix workstations, the state-of-the-art GUI is developed entirely in Java as are the server and front end programs. The MC code, in particular, simulates the following SPECT acquisition configurations: parallel/fan/cone beam, astigmatic, and pinhole collimators with arbitrary and multiple focal line/point locations. In PET mode, cylindrical and dual head PET detectors can be modeled. The code can simulate tomographic data of any dimension, three and four-dimensional analytically defined superquadric-based phantoms, and combinations of voxelized and analytical phantoms.Medium-energy photons can be tracked independently for several scatter orders and can be detected within arbitrarily defined energy windows. Several variance reduction techniques are implemented in