[Evaluation of optimized injection dose and acquisition time using body mass index for three-dimensional whole-body FDG-PET].

OBJECTIVE: The standardized uptake value (SUV) is a relative measure of tracer uptake in tissue used in (18)F-FDG PET. However, the quality of ordered subset expectation maximization (OS-EM) images is sensitive to the number of iterations, because a large number of iterations leads to images with checkerboard noise. The main advantage of data acquisition in the three-dimensional (3D) mode is the high sensitivity to better exploit the intrinsic spatial resolution and the lower injection dose given to patients. In the 3D mode, the scatter fraction is higher, and, for a given administered dose, the random fraction is higher than that in the two-dimensional mode, which implies that correction methods need to be more accurate. Moreover, in clinical oncology (18)F-FDG PET studies, patients have a wide variety of body shapes and sizes, which may impact image statistics. Consequently, it is necessary to make constant the acquisition (true) counts. The purpose of this study was to optimize injection dose and acquisition time in consideration of body mass index (BMI) for 3D whole-body (18)F-FDG PET. METHODS: A dedicated PET scanner, SIEMENS ECAT EXACT HR(+), was used to scan images of clinical data. The injection dose for BMI of <14-19, 19-22, 22-25, and 25< (kg/m(2)) were, 92.5 MBq, 111.0 MBq, 129.5 MBq, and 148.0 MBq, respectively. The emission scan time per bed position for BMI of <14-19, 19-22, 22-25, and >25 (kg/m(2)) were, 120, 120, 180, and 240 sec, respectively. A total of 20 patient subjects were evaluated as to true counts per bin (T/bin) of sinogram data and measured activity concentrations for the region of interest in the liver section. RESULTS: T/bin was stable using an optimized protocol that took into consideration the BMI for any type of body morphology. The overall coefficient of variation was 7.27% for radioactivity concentration. Additionally, Gaussian filtering (8 mm FWHM) after reconstruction by the OS-EM method provided stable SUV values even when the iteration number was increased 30 times over. CONCLUSION: Optimization of injection dose and acquisition time indicated that BMI was a clinically useful acquisition protocol for 3D whole-body (18)F-FDG PET.

[Evaluation of noise equivalent count per line of response: new parameter for count statistics for PET systems].

OBJECTIVE: The noise equivalent count (NEC) is a useful, widely accepted method of evaluating image quality in positron emission tomography (PET) from the standpoint of effective count statistics. However, NEC cannot be used when different types of PET scanners are compared owing to the differences in slice thickness and field of view. Moreover, NEC should be treated differently depending on whether the 2D or 3D mode is used for a given PET scanner. A new parameter "Specific NEC," which is NEC per line of response (LOR) was devised to compare image quality between different PET scanners and acquisition modes. METHODS: Two PET scanners were employed, the CTI-Siemens ECAT EXACT HR(+) and ECAT EXACT 47. Images of a cylindrical (68)Ge phantom were scanned in 2D and 3D modes using various acquisition times ranging from 15 secx20 frames to 120 secx20 frames in order to examine the effect of count statistics on the quality of image reconstruction. The data were reconstructed using a ramp filter with a cutoff frequency of 0.5 cycles/pixel, corrected for dead time, random, attenuation, and scatter. The quality of the reconstructed images was evaluated with the coefficient of variation (COV; SD/average for the pixels within a 16 cm region of interest). Specific NEC was defined as NEC divided by the number of LOR for the entire scanner at detector level. RESULTS: COV showed a linear relationship with Specific NEC in double logarithmic plot within a given experiment. When the Specific NEC was used, all 2D and 3D mode showed the same relationship. The slight difference between the two scanners was attributed to the difference in slice thickness. CONCLUSION: Image quality was dependent on effective count statistics per number of LOR. Our method was considered effective for evaluating image quality in both 2D and 3D modes.

[Reduction of reconstruction time and data volume of sinogram by angular compression for clinical three-dimensional whole body FDG-PET].

In positron emission tomography (PET), the large number of lines of responses in three-dimensional (3D) acquisition mode creates a high volume of sinogram data and increases reconstruction time in iterative reconstruction. We tried to decrease sinogram data volume by reducing the number of views using angular compression and then evaluated the accuracy of this mashed mode. Three methods were compared, conventional mode (CONV), X2 mashed mode (X2: two adjacent projection angles are added together), and X4 mashed mode (X4: four adjacent angles added). A point source of (18)F was used to measure spatial resolution. A hot spot phantom made of 6 hot spheres (10-38 mm in diameter) within water of 20 cm in diameter was scanned to evaluate the recovery coefficient (RC). A lung-heart-liver phantom made of homogeneous radioactive myocardium, a spherical hot mass in the lung (10 mm in diameter), and background activity in the liver was scanned to evaluate the homogeneity of the myocardial wall. The quality of the reconstructed images was evaluated in terms of the normalized mean square error (NMSE), Bull's eye map, profile curve, and peak value of the spherical hot mass. The reconstruction times of X2 and X4 were one-half and one-quarter, respectively, of that of CONV. In terms of spatial resolution, FWHM of CONV, X2, and X4 were, 4.26, 4.33, and 4.48 (mm) at the center, 4.81, 5.68, and 8.73 tangentially, and 8.01, 8.19, and 8.27 radially at R=200 mm, respectively. RC was similar for all methods. The NMSE values of X2 and X4 compared with CONV were 0.0003 and 0.0014, respectively. In the hot mass, these methods showed almost the same profile curves, although the peak value of X4 was only -1.95% less than that of CONV. Although the result of spatial resolution of X4 was slightly degraded, image quality and physical performance were good. Therefore, the X4 mashed mode used with angular compression was considered clinically useful.

Shielding effects of body - shields for 3D PET.

We analyzed basic physics characteristics of body-shields which have been considered for screening out radioactivity outside the field of view (OFOV) in positron emission tomography (PET). Phantom experiments were performed with simple rectangular body-shields. A Monte Carlo simulation technique was used to analyze the experimental results and to simulate cases that were not examined experimentally. It was confirmed that the body-shields effectively reduced unwanted radiations from OFOV radioactivity for one of the latest commercial PET scanners, the ECAT EXACT HR(+). The geometrical conditions were the most important factor in determining the shielding effect. The shield thickness should be large enough to keep the shield-scatter component low. The body-shield should be carefully designed to minimize the gap between the body-shield and radioactive distribution as much as possible to maximize the shielding effects, and to be applicable to clinical diagnoses.

Monte Carlo simulation for PET scanners and shields.

A Monte Carlo simulation code was developed for simulating PET scanners with the Monte Carlo program package GEANT. The present simulation code can handle not only conventional types of PET scanners, but also any complex detector systems with arbitrary geometrical configuration. All the relevant interactions of photons and electrons are taken into account in all the defined objects while optical tracking in the scintillation crystals is approximated by simple analytical simulation. In addition to basic PET scanner performance factors, such as sensitivity and scatter fraction, valuable but un-measurable information, such as photon trajectories and interaction position distribution, can be obtained and represented graphically in various ways. This simulation code has proved useful in analyzing the physics characteristics of existing commercial PET scanners and related shields, and in design studies of new PET scanners.