Added value of digital FDG-PET/CT in disease staging and restaging in patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer.

Background: We studied the added value of digital FDG-PET/CT in disease staging and restaging compared to the standard work-up with contrast enhanced CT (ceCT) and CA19-9 in patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer who received neo-adjuvant therapy. Primary endpoints were tumor response compared to ceCT and CA19.9 as well as the ability to detect distant metastatic disease.

Performance of digital PET/CT compared with conventional PET/CT in oncologic patients: a prospective comparison study.

Purpose: Digital PET systems (dPET) improve lesion detectability as compared to PET systems with conventional photomultiplier tubes (cPET). We prospectively studied the performance of high-resolution digital PET scans in patients with cancer, as compared with high- and standard-resolution conventional PET scans, taking the acquisition order into account.

Methods: We included 212 patients with cancer, who were referred for disease staging or restaging.

Performance of Digital PET Compared with High-Resolution Conventional PET in Patients with Cancer.

Recently introduced PET systems using silicon photomultipliers with digital readout (dPET) have an improved timing and spatial resolution, aiming at a better image quality than conventional PET (cPET) systems. We prospectively evaluated the performance of a dPET system in patients with cancer, as compared with high-resolution (HR) cPET imaging. After a single F-FDG injection, 66 patients underwent dPET and cPET imaging in randomized order.

SUV variability in EARL-accredited conventional and digital PET.

Background: A high SUV-reproducibility is crucial when different PET scanners are in use. We evaluated the SUV variability in whole-body FDG-PET scans of patients with suspected or proven cancer using an EARL-accredited conventional and digital PET scanner. In a head-to-head comparison we studied images of 50 patients acquired on a conventional scanner (cPET, Ingenuity TF PET/CT, Philips) and compared them with images acquired on a digital scanner (dPET, Vereos PET/CT, Philips).

Multicentre quantitative Ga PET/CT performance harmonisation.

Purpose: Performance standards for quantitative F-FDG PET/CT studies are provided by the EANM Research Ltd. (EARL) to enable comparability of quantitative PET in multicentre studies. Yet, such specifications are not available for Ga.

Adverse Events of Diagnostic Radiopharmaceuticals: A Systematic Review.

Diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals used in nuclear medicine can cause adverse events. Information on these adverse events is available in case reports and databases but may not be readily accessible to healthcare professionals. This systematic review provides an overview of adverse events of diagnostical radiopharmaceuticals and their characteristics.

Diagnostic implications of a small-voxel reconstruction for loco-regional lymph node characterization in breast cancer patients using FDG-PET/CT.

Background: We evaluated the diagnostic implications of a small-voxel reconstruction for lymph node characterization in breast cancer patients, using state-of-the-art FDG-PET/CT. We included 69 FDG-PET/CT scans from breast cancer patients. PET data were reconstructed using standard 4 × 4 × 4 mm and small 2 × 2 × 2 mm voxels.

Quantification, improvement, and harmonization of small lesion detection with state-of-the-art PET.

In recent years, there have been multiple advances in positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) that improve cancer imaging. The present generation of PET/CT scanners introduces new hardware, software, and acquisition methods. This review describes these new developments, which include time-of-flight (TOF), point-spread-function (PSF), maximum-a-posteriori (MAP) based reconstruction, smaller voxels, respiratory gating, metal artefact reduction, and administration of quadratic weight-dependent F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) activity.

Digital PET compliance to EARL accreditation specifications.

Background: Our aim was to evaluate if a recently introduced TOF PET system with digital photon counting technology (Philips Healthcare), potentially providing an improved image quality over analogue systems, can fulfil EANM research Ltd (EARL) accreditation specifications for tumour imaging with FDG-PET/CT.

Findings: We have performed a phantom study on a digital TOF PET system using a NEMA NU2-2001 image quality phantom with six fillable spheres. Phantom preparation and PET/CT acquisition were performed according to the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) guidelines.

Technical note: how to determine the FDG activity for tumour PET imaging that satisfies European guidelines.

Background: For tumour imaging with PET, the literature proposes to administer a patient-specific FDG activity that depends quadratically on a patient's body weight. However, a practical approach on how to implement such a protocol in clinical practice is currently lacking. We aimed to provide a practical method to determine a FDG activity formula for whole-body PET examinations that satisfies both the EANM guidelines and this quadratic relation.

Current generation time-of-flight (18)F-FDG PET/CT provides higher SUVs for normal adrenal glands, while maintaining an accurate characterization of benign and malignant glands.

Objective: Modern PET/CT scanners have significantly improved detectors and fast time-of-flight (TOF) performance and this may improve clinical performance. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of a current generation TOF PET/CT scanner on standardized uptake values (SUV), lesion-background contrast and characterization of the adrenal glands in patients with suspected lung cancer, in comparison with literature data and commonly used SUV cut-off levels.

Methods: We included 149 adrenal glands from 88 patients with suspected lung cancer, who underwent (18)F-FDG PET/CT.

Improving the detection of small lesions using a state-of-the-art time-of-flight PET/CT system and small-voxel reconstructions.

Unlabelled: A major disadvantage of (18)F-FDG PET involves poor detection of small lesions and lesions with low metabolism, caused by limited spatial resolution and relatively large image voxel size. As spatial resolution and sensitivity are better in new PET systems, it is expected that small-lesion detection could be improved using smaller voxels. The aim of this study was to test this hypothesis using a state-of-the-art time-of-flight PET/CT device.

Impact of image processing in the detection of ischaemia using CZT-SPECT/CT.

Background: The new multipinhole cardiac single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) cameras with cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) detectors are highly sensitive and produce images of high quality but rely on complex dedicated reconstruction algorithms. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of various processing steps on image formation and in the detection of ischaemia in CZT-SPECT/CT both with and without attenuation correction (AC).

Materials And Methods: Data on 20 consecutive patients who underwent a 1-day protocol stress-rest SPECT/CT using 99mTc-tetrofosmin were processed twice by three experienced operators, yielding 120 AC and 120 noncorrected (NC) data sets.