title: Patient Preparation and Performance of PET/CT Scans in Pediatric Patients.
abstract: Appropriate patient preparation is necessary for high-quality PET and PET/CT imaging in children and adolescents. Standard adult protocols and techniques will sometimes give suboptimal results, so attention to specific pediatric protocols is important. Additionally, attempts should be made to limit radiation doses, as pediatric patients are more sensitive to the effects of radiation. Administered [F-18]2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose activities may be reduced using weight based protocols, and CT parameters should be reduced to appropriate pediatric levels, with low-dose localization settings used when diagnostic-quality CT images are not needed. Complicating factors, such as patient motion and brown adipose-tissue uptake, are more commonly encountered in pediatric patients, and appropriate measures should be taken to limit their impact on imaging.
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Medicine Section, Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, MLC 5031, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, USA; Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati, 231 Albert Sabin Way, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0761, USA. Electronic address: michael.gelfand@cchmc.org.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gelfand
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Medicine Section, Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, MLC 5031, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, USA; Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati, 231 Albert Sabin Way, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0761, USA.
authors.forename: Susan E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Sharp
keywords: Artifacts; Dose reduction; Imaging protocols; PET/CT; Patient preparation