title: Small-animal imaging using clinical positron emission tomography/computed tomography and super-resolution.
abstract: Considering the high cost of dedicated small-animal positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT), an acceptable alternative in many situations might be clinical PET/CT. However, spatial resolution and image quality are of concern. The utility of clinical PET/CT for small-animal research and image quality improvements from super-resolution (spatial subsampling) were investigated. National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) NU 4 phantom and mouse data were acquired with a clinical PET/CT scanner, as both conventional static and stepped scans. Static scans were reconstructed with and without point spread function (PSF) modeling. Stepped images were postprocessed with iterative deconvolution to produce super-resolution images. Image quality was markedly improved using the super-resolution technique, avoiding certain artifacts produced by PSF modeling. The 2 mm rod of the NU 4 phantom was visualized with high contrast, and the major structures of the mouse were well resolved. Although not a perfect substitute for a state-of-the-art small-animal PET/CT scanner, a clinical PET/CT scanner with super-resolution produces acceptable small-animal image quality for many preclinical research studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue/Jb3, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA. difilif@ccf.org
authors.forename: Frank P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: DiFilippo
authors.forename: Sagar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Kewal
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Asosingh
authors.forename: Serpil C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Erzurum
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed