title: Quantifying [¹⁸F]fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in the arterial wall: the effects of dual time-point imaging and partial volume effect correction.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The human arterial wall is smaller than the spatial resolution of current positron emission tomographs. Therefore, partial volume effects should be considered when quantifying arterial wall (18)F-FDG uptake. We evaluated the impact of a novel method for partial volume effect (PVE) correction with contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) assistance on quantification of arterial wall (18)F-FDG uptake at different imaging time-points.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten subjects were assessed by CECT imaging and dual time-point PET/CT imaging at approximately 60 and 180 min after (18)F-FDG administration. For both time-points, uptake of (18)F-FDG was determined in the aortic wall by calculating the blood pool-corrected maximum standardized uptake value (cSUVMAX) and cSUVMEAN. The PVE-corrected SUVMEAN (pvcSUVMEAN) was also calculated using (18)F-FDG PET/CT and CECT images. Finally, corresponding target-to-background ratios (TBR) were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At 60 min, pvcSUVMEAN was on average 3.1 times greater than cSUVMAX (P < .0001) and 8.5 times greater than cSUVMEAN (P < .0001). At 180 min, pvcSUVMEAN was on average 2.6 times greater than cSUVMAX (P < .0001) and 6.6 times greater than cSUVMEAN (P < .0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated that CECT-assisted PVE correction significantly influences quantification of arterial wall (18)F-FDG uptake. Therefore, partial volume effects should be considered when quantifying arterial wall (18)F-FDG uptake with PET.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX, Utrecht, The Netherlands, b.a.blomberg@umcutrecht.nl.
authors.forename: Björn A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Blomberg
authors.forename: Arjun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bashyam
authors.forename: Abhinay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramachandran
authors.forename: Saeid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gholami
authors.forename: Sina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Houshmand
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salavati
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: Habib
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zaidi
authors.forename: Abass
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alavi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001011:Aorta / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D001692:Biological Transport; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18