• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.21-26
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• 2016

Purpose Because of many advantages, PET-CT Scanners generally use CT Data for attenuation correction. By using CT based attenuation correction, we can get anatomical information, reduce scan time and make more accurate correction of attenuation. However in case metal artifact occurred during CT scan, CT-based attenuation correction can induce artifacts and quantitative errors that can affect the PET images. Therefore this study infers true SUV of metal artifact region from attenuation corrected image count -to- non attenuation corrected image count ratio. Materials and Methods Micro phantom inserted $^{18}F-FDG$ 4mCi was used for phantom test and Biograph mCT S(40) is used for medical test equipment. We generated metal artifact in micro phantom by using metal. Then we acquired both metal artifact region of correction factor and non metal artifact region of correction factor by using attenuation correction image count -to- non attenuation correction image count ratio. In case of clinical image, we reconstructed both attenuation corrected images and non attenuation corrected images of 10 normal patient($66{\pm}15age$) who examined PET-CT scan in SNUH. After that, we standardize several organs of correction factor by using attenuation corrected image count -to- non attenuation corrected count ratio. Then we figured out metal artifact region of correction factor by using metal artifact region of attenuation corrected image count -to- non attenuation corrected count ratio And we compared standard organs correction factor with metal artifact region correction factor. Results according to phantom test results, metal artifact induce overestimation of correction factor so metal artifact region of correction factors are 12% bigger than the non metal artifact region of correction factors. in case of clinical test, correction factor of organs with high CT number(>1000) is $8{\pm}0.5%$, correction factor of organs with CT number similar to soft tissue is $6{\pm}2%$ and correction factor of organs with low CT number(-100>) is $3{\pm}1%$. Also metal artifact correction factors are 20% bigger than soft tissue correction factors which didn't happened metal artifact. Conclusion metal artifact lead to overestimation of attenuation coefficient. because of that, SUV of metal artifact region is overestimated. Thus for more accurate quantitative evaluation, using attenuation correction image count -to-non attenuation correction image count ratio is one of the methods to reduce metal artifact affect.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.49-53
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• 2007

Purpose: It was reported that CT-based measured attenuation correction (CT-MAC) produced radioactivity concentration values significantly higher than $^{68}Ge$-based segmented attenuation correction (Ge-SAC) in PET images. However, it was unknown whether the radioactivity concentration difference resulted from different sources (CT vs. Ge) or types (MAC vs. SAC) of attenuation correction (AC). We evaluated the influences of the source and type of AC on the radioactivity concentration differences between reconstructed PET images in normal subjects and patients. Material and Methods: Five normal subjects and 35 patients with a known or suspected cancer underwent $^{18}F-FDG$ PET/CT. In each subject, attenuation corrected PET images using OSEM algorithm (28 subsets, 2 iterations) were reconstructed by 4 methods: CT-MAC, CT-SAC, Ge-MAC, and Ge-SAC. The physiological uptake in normal subjects and pathological uptake in patients were quantitatively compared between the PET images according to the source and type of AC. Results: The SUVs of physiological uptake measured in CT-MAC PET images were significantly higher than other 3 differently corrected PET images. Maximum SUVs of the 145 foci with abnormal FDG uptake in CT-MAC images were significantly highest among 4 differently corrected PET images with a difference of 2.4% to 5.1% (p<0.001). The SUVs of pathological uptake in Ge-MAC images were significantly higher than those in CT-SAC and Ge-MAC PET images (p<0.001). Conclusion: Quantitative radioactivity values were highest in CT-MAC PET images. The adoption of MAC may make a more contribution than the adoption of CT attenuation map to such differences.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.10-14
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• 2013

Purpose: Due to developed simultaneous PET/MRI, it has become possible to obtain more anatomical image information better than conventional PET/CT. By the way, in the PET/CT, the linear absorption coefficient is measured by X-ray directly. However in case of PET/MRI, the value is not measured from MRI images directly, but is calculated by dividing as 4 segmentation ${\mu}-map$. Therefore, in this paper, we will evaluate the SUV's difference of attenuation correction PET images from PET/MRI and PET/CT. Materials and Methods: Biograph mCT40 (Siemens, Germany), Biograph mMR were used as a PET/CT, PET/MRI scanner. For a phantom study, we used a solid type $^{68}Ge$ source, and a liquid type $^{18}F$ uniformity phantom. By using VIBE-DIXON sequence of PET/MRI, human anatomical structure was divided into air-lung-fat-soft tissue for attenuation correction coefficient. In case of PET/CT, the hounsfield unit of CT was used. By setting the ROI at five places of each PET phantom images that is corrected attenuation, the maximum SUV was measured, evaluated %diff about PET/CT vs. PET/MRI. In clinical study, the 18 patients who underwent simultaneous PET/CT and PET/MRI was selected and set the ROI at background, lung, liver, brain, muscle, fat, bone from the each attenuation correction PET images, and then evaluated, compared by measuring the maximum SUV. Results: For solid $^{68}Ge$ source, SUV from PET/MRI is measured lower 88.55% compared to PET/CT. In case of liquid $^{18}F$ uniform phantom, SUV of PET/MRI as compared to PET/CT is measured low 70.17%. If the clinical study, the background SUV of PET/MRI is same with PET/CT's and the one of lung was higher 2.51%. However, it is measured lower about 32.50, 40.35, 23.92, 13.92, 5.00% at liver, brain, muscle, fat, femoral head. Conclusion: In the case of a CT image, because there is a linear relationship between 511 keV ${\gamma}-ray$ and linear absorption coefficient of X-ray, it is possible to correct directly the attenuation of 511 keV ${\gamma}-ray$ by creating a ${\mu}$map from the CT image. However, in the case of the MRI, because the MRI signal has no relationship at all with linear absorption coefficient of ${\gamma}-ray$, the anatomical structure of the human body is divided into four segmentations to correct the attenuation of ${\gamma}-rays$. Even a number of protons in a bone is too low to make MRI signal and to localize segmentation of ${\mu}-map$. Therefore, to develope a proper sequence for measuring more accurate attenuation coefficient is indeed necessary in the future PET/MRI.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.96-99
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• 2004

The objective of this study is to assess attenuation correction algorithms utilized in a multipurpose whole-body GSO PET scanner. Four different types of phantoms were tested using different types of attenuation correction techniques. FOV (Field of View) of 256mm was used for brain PET imaging. For compensating attenuation, transmission data of a $^{137}$Cs point source were acquired after the F-18 emission source was infused to the phantoms. Scatter correction were peformed. Reconstructed images of the phantoms were assessed. In addition, reconstructed images of a normal subject were compared and assessed by nuclear medicine physicians. As a result, decreased intensity at the central portion of the attenuation map with cylindrical phantom was noticed during use of the measured attenuation correction. On the other hand, segmentation or remapping attenuation correction provided uniform phantom image. the images reconstructed from the clinical brain data explained the attenuation of a skull, at though reconstructed images of the phantoms couldn't explain it. in conclusion, the complicated and improved attenuation correction methods were required to obtain the better accuracy of the quantitative brain PET images. Our study will be useful in improving quantitative brain PET imaging modalities with attenuation correction of $^{137}$Cs transmission source.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2014

Purpose: Integrated PET/MRI has been developed recently has become a lot of help to the point oncologic, neological, cardiological nuclear medicine. By using this PET/MRI, a ${\mu}-map$ is created some special MRI sequence which may be divided parts of the body for attenuation correction. However, because an MRI contrast agent is necessary in order to obtain an more MRI information, we will evaluate to see an effect of SUV on PET image that corrected attenuation by MRI with contrast agent. Materials and Methods: As PET/MRI machine, Biograph mMR (Siemens, Germany) was used. For phantom test, 1mCi $^{18}F-FDG$ was injected in cylinderical uniformity phantom, and then acquire PET data about 10 minutes with VIBE-DIXON, UTE MRI sequence image for attenuation correction. T1 weighted contrast media, 4 cc DOTAREM (GUERBET, FRANCE) was injected in a same phatnom, and then PET data, MRI data were acquired by same methodes. Using this PET, non-contrast MRI and contrast MRI, it was reconstructed attenuation correction PET image, in which we evanuated the difference of SUVs. Additionally, for let a high desity of contrast media, 500 cc 2 plastic bottles were used. We injected $^{18}F-FDG$ with 5 cc DOTAREM in first bottle. At second bottle, only $^{18}F-FDG$ was injected. and then we evaluated a SUVs reconstructed by same methods. For clinical patient study, rectal caner-pancreas cancer patients were selected. we evaluated SUVs of PET image corrected attenuastion by contrast weighted MRI and non-contrast MRI. Results: For a phantom study, although VIBE DIXON MRI signal with contrast media is 433% higher than non-contrast media MRI, the signals intensity of ${\mu}-map$, attenuation corrected PET are same together. In case of high contrast media density, image distortion is appeared on ${\mu}-map$ and PET images. For clinical a patient study, VIBE DIXON MRI signal on lesion portion is increased in 495% by using DOTAREM. But there are no significant differences at ${\mu}-map$, non AC PET, AC-PET image whether using contrast media or not. In case of whole body PET/MRI study, %diff between contras and non contrast MRAC at lung, liver, renal cortex, femoral head, myocardium, bladder, muscle are -4.32%, -2.48%, -8.05%, -3.14%, 2.30%, 1.53%, 6.49% at each other. Conclusion: In integrated PET/MRI, a segmentation ${\mu}-map$ method is used for correcting attenuation of PET signal. although MRI signal for attenuation correciton change by using contrast media, ${\mu}-map$ will not change, and then MRAC PET signal will not change too. Therefore, MRI contrast media dose not affect for attenuation correction PET. As well, not only When we make a flow of PET/MRI protocol, order of PET and MRI sequence dose not matter, but It's possible to compare PET images before and after contrast agent injection.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.1610-1615
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• 2019

Positron emission tomography (PET)/magnetic resonance (MR) scanning has the advantage of less additional exposure to radiation than does PET/computed tomography (CT). In particular, MR based attenuation correction (MR AC) can greatly affect the image quality of PET and is frequently obtained using various MR sequences. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to quantitatively compare the image quality between MR non-AC (MR NAC) and MR AC in PET images with three MR sequences. Percent image uniformity (PIU), percent contrast recovery (PCR), and percent background variability (PBV) were estimated to evaluate the quality of PET images with MR AC. Based on the results of PIU, 15.2% increase in the average quality was observed for PET images with MR AC than for PET images with MR NAC. In addition, 28.6% and 71.1% improvement in the average results of PCR and PBV respectively, was observed for PET images with MR AC compared with that with MR NAC. Moreover, no significant difference was observed among the average values using three MR sequences. In conclusion, the current study demonstrated that PET with MR AC improved the image quality and can be help diagnosis in all MR sequence cases.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 2017

To assess the effects of filter and reconstruction of Cu-64 PET data on Siemens scanner, the various reconstruction algorithm with various filters were assessed in terms of spatial resolution, non-uniformity (NU), recovery coefficient (RC), and spillover ratio (SOR). Image reconstruction was performed using filtered backprojection (FBP), 2D ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM), 3D reprojection algorithm (3DRP), and maximum a posteriori algorithms (MAP). For the FBP reconstruction, ramp, butterworth, hamming, hanning, or parzen filters were used. Attenuation or scatter correction were performed to assess the effect of attenuation and scatter correction. Regarding spatial resolution, highest achievable volumetric resolution was $3.08mm^3$ at the center of FOV when MAP (${\beta}=0.1$) reconstruction method was used. SOR was below 4% for FBP when ramp, Hamming, Hanning, or Shepp-logan filter were used. The lowest NU (highest uniform) after attenuation & scatter correction was 5.39% when FBP (parzen filter) was used. Regarding RC, 0.9 < RC < 1.1 was obtained when OSEM (iteration: 10) was used when attenuation and scatter correction were applied. In this study, image quality of Cu-64 on Siemens Inveon PET was investigated. This data will helpful for the quantification of Cu-64 PET data.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.172-180
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• 2008

PET/CT fused image with anatomical and functional information have improved medical diagnosis and interpretation. This fusion has resulted in more precise localization and characterization of sites of radio-tracer uptake. However, a motion during whole-body imaging has been recognized as a source of image quality degradation and reduced the quantitative accuracy of PET/CT study. The respiratory motion problem is more challenging in combined PET/CT imaging. In combined PET/CT, CT is used to localize tumors and to correct for attenuation in the PET images. An accurate spatial registration of PET and CT image sets is a prerequisite for accurate diagnosis and SUV measurement. Correcting for the spatial mismatch caused by motion represents a particular challenge for the requisite registration accuracy as a result of differences in PET/CT image. This paper provides a brief summary of the materials and methods involved in multiple investigations of the correction for respiratory motion in PET/CT imaging, with the goal of improving image quality and quantitative accuracy.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.560-569
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• 1996

Background and Purpose : Standardized uptake value(SUV) has been used as a quantitative index for differentiating benign and malignant tumors with F-18-FDG PET In this study, we produced whole body parametric images of SUV(WBPIS) by body weight normalization, and validated the values by comparison with SUV's calculated with regional scans. Subjects and Methods : Whole body scans were followed by regional scans sequentially on 23 patients. In whole body study, transmission and emission scans were acquired for 2 minutes and 6 minutes for each bed position, respectively. In regional study, transmission and emission scans were acquired for 20 minutes. Measured and segmented/ smoothed attenuation correction were applied using these 2 min transmission scans in whole body studies. The effects of attenuation correction on SUVs were evaluated quantitatively using F-18 filled cylindrical phantom. The mean and peak SUVs obtained from WBPIS were compared with SUVs of the regional scans. Results : In phantom studies, with any method of attenuation correction using regional or whole body studies of phantom, SUVs were nearly consistent. In whole body scan, SUV obtained using measured attenuation correction method was a little higher than SUV of regional scan. SUV obtained using segmented/smoothed attenuation correction method was a little lower. In patient studies, WBPIS using segmented/smoothed attenuation correction method was much smoother and more readable. SUVs of WBPIS obtained with both methods of attenuation correction were well correlated with SUVs of regional scans(r=0.9). SUVs of WBPIS with measured attenuation correction method were 5% lower than SUVs of regional scans. SUVs of WBPIS with segmented/smoothed attenuation correction method were 10% lower than SUVs of regional scans. The differences of SUVs of WBPIS by the two attenuation correction methods were relatively small compared with the possible differences derived from biological characteristics of tumors. Conclusion : We concluded that WBPIS could be useful in the quantification of tumor as well as in localization of whole body lesions, which were often outside the field of view in regional scan. WBPIS made using segmented/smoothed attenuation correction method could be used in clinical routines and SUVs from attenuation corrected F-18-FDG PET could be used interchangeably with SUVs of regional studies.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.189-193
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• 2020

An MR-based attenuation correction (MRAC) map plays an important role in quantitative positron emission tomography (PET) image evaluation in PET/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems. However, the MRAC map is affected by the magnetic field inhomogeneity of MRIs. This study aims to evaluate the characteristics of MRAC maps of physical phantoms on PET/MRI images. Phantom measurements were performed using the Siemens Biograph mMR. The modular type physical phantoms that provide assembly versatility for phantom construction were scanned in a four-channel Body Matrix coil. The MRAC map was generated using the two-point Dixon-based segmentation method for whole-body imaging. The modular phantoms were scanned in compact and non-compact assembly configurations. In addition, the phantoms were scanned repeatedly to generate MRAC maps. The acquired MRAC maps show differently assigned values for void areas. An incorrect assignment of a void area was shown on a locally compact space between phantoms. The assigned MRAC values were distorted using a wide field-of-view (FOV). The MRAC values also differed after repeated scans. However, the erroneous MRAC values appeared outside of phantom, except for a large FOV. The MRAC map of the phantom was affected by phantom configuration and the number of scans. A quantitative study using a phantom in a PET/MRI system should be performed after evaluation of the MRAC map characteristics.