Patent ID: 7983735

Claim:
A nuclear medicine imaging simulator system comprising: a processor assembly including at least one processor receiving a digital phantom model and a digital pharmacokinetic model; a dynamic integration module executable on the processor assembly for integrating the pharmacokinetic model with the phantom model to generate dynamic phantom data representing activity of the pharmacokinetic model within the phantom model over simulated time; an imager module executable on the processor assembly for generating a digital imager model representing a nuclear imager in accordance with at least one selectable imager parameter that controls activity of the imager model relative to simulated time; an imager simulator module executable on the processor assembly for processing the dynamic phantom data with the imager model for simulating at least one imaging process of the dynamic phantom data in accordance with the at least one imager parameter and generating respective simulated sensed data in accordance with individual imaging processes of the at least one imaging process; an image analysis module executable on the processor assembly for receiving image data associated with the respective simulated sensed data and generating an image quality metric indicative of quality of the associated image data based on an analysis selected from the group consisting of a qualitative analysis and a quantitative analysis; and an adjustment control module executable on the processor assembly for generating at least one adjusted parameter for selecting at least one imager parameter, at least one pharmacokinetic model, at least one phantom model, or combinations thereof, for use with at least one future imaging process in accordance with the image quality metric.