title: Fusion of multi-tracer PET images for dose painting.
abstract: PET imaging with FluoroDesoxyGlucose (FDG) tracer is clinically used for the definition of Biological Target Volumes (BTVs) for radiotherapy. Recently, new tracers, such as FLuoroThymidine (FLT) or FluoroMisonidazol (FMiso), have been proposed. They provide complementary information for the definition of BTVs. Our work is to fuse multi-tracer PET images to obtain a good BTV definition and to help the radiation oncologist in dose painting. Due to the noise and the partial volume effect leading, respectively, to the presence of uncertainty and imprecision in PET images, the segmentation and the fusion of PET images is difficult. In this paper, a framework based on Belief Function Theory (BFT) is proposed for the segmentation of BTV from multi-tracer PET images. The first step is based on an extension of the Evidential C-Means (ECM) algorithm, taking advantage of neighboring voxels for dealing with uncertainty and imprecision in each mono-tracer PET image. Then, imprecision and uncertainty are, respectively, reduced using prior knowledge related to defects in the acquisition system and neighborhood information. Finally, a multi-tracer PET image fusion is performed. The results are represented by a set of parametric maps that provide important information for dose painting. The performances are evaluated on PET phantoms and patient data with lung cancer. Quantitative results show good performance of our method compared with other methods.
authors.affiliation: QuantIF, LITIS EA 4108, University of Rouen, France.
authors.forename: Benoît
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lelandais
authors.affiliation: QuantIF, LITIS EA 4108, University of Rouen, France.
authors.forename: Su
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.affiliation: Heudiasyc (UMR 7253), Université de Technologie de Compiègne, CNRS, Compiègne, France.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Denœux
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear medicine, Henri Becquerel Center, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vera
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear medicine, Henri Becquerel Center, France.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gardin
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D035501:Uncertainty
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals
keywords: Belief function theory; Dose painting; Information fusion; Positron Emission Tomography; Segmentation