Evaluation of attenuation correction in cardiac PET using PET/MR.
Simultaneous acquisition Positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance (PET/MR) is a new technology that has potential as a tool both in research and clinical diagnosis. However, cardiac PET acquisition has not yet been validated using MR imaging for attenuation correction (AC). The goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of PET imaging using a standard 2-point Dixon volume interpolated breathhold examination (VIBE) MR sequence for AC.



Evaluation was performed in both phantom and patient data. A chest phantom containing heart, lungs, and a lesion insert was scanned by both PET/MR and PET/CT. In addition, 30 patients underwent whole-body18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT followed by simultaneous cardiac PET/MR. Phantom study showed 3% reduction of activity values in the myocardium due to the non-inclusion of the phased array coil in the AC. In patient scans, average standardized uptake values (SUVs) obtained by PET/CT and PET/MR showed no significant difference (n = 30, 4.6 ± 3.5 vs 4.7 ± 2.8, P = 0.47). There was excellent per patient correlation between the values acquired by PET/CT and PET/MR (R2= 0.97).



Myocardial SUVs PET imaging using MR for AC shows excellent correlation with myocardial SUVs obtained by standard PET/CT imaging. The 2-point Dixon VIBE MR technique can be used for AC in simultaneous PET/MR data acquisition.
Division of Cardiovascular Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Washington University in Saint Louis, Campus Box 8086, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, Saint Louis, MO, 63110, USA. manchunlau@hotmail.com.
Jeffrey M C
JMC
Lau
Department of Radiological Sciences, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University in Saint Louis, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
R
R
Laforest
Department of Radiological Sciences, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University in Saint Louis, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
H
H
Sotoudeh
Department of Radiological Sciences, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University in Saint Louis, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
X
X
Nie
Division of Cardiovascular Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Washington University in Saint Louis, Campus Box 8086, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, Saint Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
S
S
Sharma
Department of Radiological Sciences, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University in Saint Louis, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
J
J
McConathy
Division of Cardiovascular Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Washington University in Saint Louis, Campus Box 8086, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, Saint Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
E
E
Novak
Siemens Medical Solutions U.S.A, Malvern, PA, USA.
A
A
Priatna
Department of Radiological Sciences, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University in Saint Louis, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
R J
RJ
Gropler
Department of Radiological Sciences, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University in Saint Louis, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
P K
PK
Woodard
D016477:Artifacts; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055414:Myocardial Perfusion Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
18F-FDG; Attenuation correction; Cardiac; Dixon; PET/MR