title: Imaging quality of (44)Sc in comparison with five other PET radionuclides using Derenzo phantoms and preclinical PET.
abstract: PET is the favored nuclear imaging technique because of the high sensitivity and resolution it provides, as well as the possibility for quantification of accumulated radioactivity. (44)Sc (T1/2=3.97h, Eβ(+)=632keV) was recently proposed as a potentially interesting radionuclide for PET. The aim of this study was to investigate the image quality, which can be obtained with (44)Sc, and compare it with five other, frequently employed PET nuclides using Derenzo phantoms and a small-animal PET scanner. The radionuclides were produced at the medical cyclotron at CRS, ETH Zurich ((11)C, (18)F), at the Injector II research cyclotron at CRS, PSI ((64)Cu, (89)Zr, (44)Sc), as well as via a generator system ((68)Ga). Derenzo phantoms, containing solutions of each of these radionuclides, were scanned using a GE Healthcare eXplore VISTA small-animal PET scanner. The image resolution was determined for each nuclide by analysis of the intensity signal using the reconstructed PET data of a hole diameter of 1.3mm. The image quality of (44)Sc was compared to five frequently-used PET radionuclides. In agreement with the positron range, an increasing relative resolution was determined in the sequence of (68)Ga<(44)Sc<(89)Zr<(11)C<(64)Cu<(18)F. The performance of (44)Sc was in agreement with the theoretical expectations based on the energy of the emitted positrons.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Radiochemistry and Environmental Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland; Laboratory of Radiochemistry and Environmental Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Maruta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bunka
authors.affiliation: Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences ETH-PSI-USZ, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland. Electronic address: cristina.mueller@psi.ch.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences ETH-PSI-USZ, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christiaan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vermeulen
authors.affiliation: Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences ETH-PSI-USZ, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haller
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Radiochemistry and Environmental Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland; Laboratory of Radiochemistry and Environmental Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Türler
authors.affiliation: Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences ETH-PSI-USZ, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland; Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schibli
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Radiochemistry and Environmental Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland; Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences ETH-PSI-USZ, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland. Electronic address: nick.vandermeulen@psi.ch.
authors.forename: Nicholas P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: van der Meulen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D003301:Copper Radioisotopes; D017357:Cyclotrons; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D005710:Gallium Radioisotopes; D006801:Humans; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D011868:Radioisotopes; D012538:Scandium; D015040:Zirconium
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D003301:Copper Radioisotopes; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D005710:Gallium Radioisotopes; D011868:Radioisotopes; D015040:Zirconium; D012538:Scandium
keywords: (11)C; (18)F; (44)Sc; (64)Cu; (68)Ga; (89)Zr; PET; Phantom; Resolution