Evaluation of attenuation correction in PET/MRI with synthetic lesion insertion

• Published in: Journal of medical imaging (Bellingham, Wash.) Wash.), 2021-09, Vol.8 (5), p.056001-056001
• Main Authors: Hamdi, Mahdjoub, Natsuaki, Yutaka, Wangerin, Kristen A, An, Hongyu, St. James, Sarah, Kinahan, Paul E, Sunderland, John J, Larson, Peder E. Z, Hope, Thomas A, Laforest, Richard
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging
• ISSN: 2329-4302; 2329-4310
• DOI: 10.1117/1.JMI.8.5.056001

Purpose: One major challenge facing simultaneous positron emission tomography (PET)/ magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is PET attenuation correction (AC) measurement and evaluation of its accuracy. There is a crucial need for the evaluation of current and emergent PET AC methodologies in terms of absolute quantitative accuracy in the reconstructed PET images. Approach: To address this need, we developed and evaluated a lesion insertion tool for PET/MRI that will facilitate this evaluation process. This tool was developed for the Biograph mMR and evaluated using phantom and patient data. Contrast recovery coefficients (CRC) from the NEMA IEC phantom of synthesized lesions were compared to measurements. In addition, SUV biases of lesions inserted in human brain and pelvis images were assessed from PET images reconstructed with MRI-based AC (MRAC) and CT-based AC (CTAC). Results: For cross-comparison PET/MRI scanners AC evaluation, we demonstrated that the developed lesion insertion tool can be harmonized with the GE-SIGNA lesion insertion tool. About