Optimization of transmission scan duration for 15O PET study with sequential dual tracer administration using N-index.
OBJECTIVE
Cerebral blood flow (CBF), oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) and cerebral metabolic rate of O(2) (CMRO(2)) can be quantified by PET with the administration of H (2) (15) O and (15)O(2). Recently, a shortening in the duration of these measurements was achieved by the sequential administration of dual tracers of (15)O(2) and H (2) (15) O with PET acquisition and integration method (DARG method). A transmission scan is generally required for correcting photon attenuation in advance of PET scan. Although the DARG method can shorten the total study duration to around 30 min, the transmission scan duration has not been optimized and has possibility to shorten its duration. Our aim of this study was to determine the optimal duration for the transmission scan. We introduced 'N-index', which estimates the noise level on an image obtained by subtracting two statistically independent and physiologically equivalent images. The relationship between noise on functional images and duration of the transmission scan was investigated by N-index.


METHODS
We performed phantom studies to test whether the N-index reflects the pixel noise in a PET image. We also estimated the noise level by the N-index on CBF, OEF and CMRO(2) images from DARG method in clinical patients, and investigated an optimal true count of the transmission scan.


RESULTS
We found tight correlation between pixel noise and N-index in the phantom study. By investigating relationship between the transmission scan duration and N-index value for the functional images by DARG method, we revealed that the transmission data with true counts of more than 40 Mcounts results in CBF, OEF, and CMRO(2) images of reasonable quantitative accuracy and quality.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study suggests that further shortening of DARG measurement is possible by abridging the transmission scan. The N-index could be used to determine the optimal measurement condition when examining the quality of image.
Kudomi
Nobuyuki
N
Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Mikichou, Kitagun, Kagawa, 761-0793, Japan.
Watabe
Hiroshi
H
Hayashi
Takuya
T
Oka
Hisashi
H
Miyake
Yoshinori
Y
Iida
Hidehiro
H
D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D010104:Oxygen Radioisotopes / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D011849:Radioactive Tracers; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors; D014867:Water / Q000008:administration & dosage
D010104:Oxygen Radioisotopes; D011849:Radioactive Tracers; D014867:Water; D010100:Oxygen