title: Performance comparison of two commercial BGO-based PET/CT scanners using NEMA NU 2-2001.
abstract: Combined positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) scanners play a major role in medicine for in vivo imaging in an increasing number of diseases in oncology, cardiology, neurology, and psychiatry. With the advent of short-lived radioisotopes other than 18F and newer scanners, there is a need to optimize radioisotope activity and acquisition protocols, as well as to compare scanner performances on an objective basis. The Discovery-LS (D-LS) was among the first clinical PET/CT scanners to be developed and has been extensively characterized with older National Electrical Manufacturer Association (NEMA) NU 2-1994 standards. At the time of publication of the latest version of the standards (NU 2-2001) that have been adapted for whole-body imaging under clinical conditions, more recent models from the same manufacturer, i.e., Discovery-ST (D-ST) and Discovery-STE (D-STE), were commercially available. We report on the full characterization both in the two- and three-dimensional acquisition mode of the D-LS according to latest NEMA NU 2-2001 standards (spatial resolution, sensitivity, count rate performance, accuracy of count losses, and random coincidence correction and image quality), as well as a detailed comparison with the newer D-ST widely used and whose characteristics are already published.
authors.affiliation: University Institute for Radiation Physics (IRA-DUMSC), University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne (CHUV), 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Grégory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bolard
authors.forename: John O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Prior
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Modolo
authors.forename: Angelika Bischof
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Delaloye
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kosinski
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wastiel
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Malterre
authors.forename: Shelley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bulling
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bochud
authors.forename: Francis R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Verdun
mesh_terms: D004560:Electricity; D006801:Humans; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D012015:Reference Standards; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed