Assessment of Image Quality and Lesion Detectability With Digital PET/CT System

• Published in: Frontiers in medicine 2021-02, Vol.8, p.629096-629096
• Main Authors: Delcroix, Olivier, Bourhis, David, Keromnes, Nathalie, Robin, Philippe, Le Roux, Pierre-Yves, Abgral, Ronan, Salaun, Pierre-Yves, Querellou, Solène
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: analog detectors; clinical evaluation; image quality; Medicine; PET/CT; SiPM
• ISSN: 2296-858X; 2296-858X
• DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2021.629096

The aim of this study was to assess image quality and lesion detectability acquired with a digital Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) Siemens Biograph Vision 600 system. Consecutive patients who underwent a FDG PET/CT during the first week of use of a digital PET/CT (Siemens Biograph Vision 600) at the nuclear medicine department of the university hospital of Brest were analyzed. PET were realized using list mode acquisition. For all patients, 4 datasets were reconstructed. We determined, according to phantom measurements, an equivalent time acquisition/reconstruction parameters pair of the digital PET/CT corresponding to an analog PET/CT image quality ("analog-like") as reference dataset. We compared the reference dataset with 3 others digital PET/CT reconstruction parameters, allowing a decrease of emission duration: 60, 90, and 120 s per bed position. Three nuclear medicine physicians evaluated independently, for each dataset, overall image quality [Maximal Intensity Projection (MIP), noise, sharpness] using a 4-point scale. Physicians assessed also lesion detection capability by reporting new visible lesions on each digital datasets with their confidence level in comparison with analog-like dataset. Ninety-eight patients were analyzed. Image quality of MIP (IQ ), sharpness (IQ ), and noise (IQ ) of all digital datasets (60, 90, and 120 s) were better than those evaluated with analog-like reconstruction. Moreover, digital PET/CT system improved IQ , IQ , and IQ whatever the BMI. Lesion detection capability and confidence level were higher for 60, 90, 120 s per bed position, respectively, than for analog-like images. Our study demonstrated an improvement of image quality and lesion detectability with a digital PET/CT system.