Dynamic 18F-FDG PET images simulation using 4D-XCAT phantom and kinetic modeling for lesion detectability investigation and scan time reduction purpose.

Document Type : Original Paper

Authors

1 Radiological and Atomic Physics Department, Physics Division, Nuclear Research Center of Algiers, 16000, Algiers, Algeria.

2 Atomic Energy Commission (COMENA), Algiers, Algeria.

3 Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Ferhat Abbas-Setif1 University, Setif, ALGERIA

Abstract

Introduction: Simulation in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) studies is considered as an effective approach to test new mathematical methods for image processing and lesion detection. It’s an alternative way to overcome the drawback of obtaining a sufficient set of clinical images with known truth about the presence or absence of lesions. The aim of this work was to simulate, in new and fast way, realistic dynamic 18F-FDG PET images for lesion detectability investigation and scan time reduction.

Materials and Methods: The 4D-XCAT phantom was employed to model the patient organs and tissues. The three-compartment model with four kinetic parameters and blood volume component (k1, k2, k3, k4, and Vp) was used to simulate the TAC’s of 18F-FDG. The necessary arterial input function of 18F-FDG needed in the simulation of the TAC’s was modeled using a parametric function. In total, the TAC of 11 tissues were simulated. A typical 18F-FDG dynamic PET acquisition protocol has been adopted. To generate dynamic phantom, the activity values were calculated from the TAC’s considering the scan duration of each frame. These activity values were assigned to each voxel of 4D-XCAT in order to produce 28 activity maps. The GE Discovery PET/CT 710 scanner, modeled in STIR platform, was considered to generate the sinograms from the activity maps. OSMAPOSL Algorithm was employed to reconstruct dynamic 18F-FDG PET images from the sinograms generated during the acquisition phase.

Results: Realistic dynamic 18F-FDG PET images were generated. The qualitative and quantitative comparison showed a good agreement between the 4D-XCAT phantom images before and after the reconstruction procedure. The computation time of the reconstruction procedure was 8.76 min/frame.

Conclusion: The present study was found to be promising and realistic approach in dPET imaging optimization in terms of scanning time reduction and lesion detectability amelioration.

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Iranian Journal of Medical Physics

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 13 May 2023

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History

  • Receive Date: 28 November 2022
  • Revise Date: 08 May 2023
  • Accept Date: 13 May 2023

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