A methodology for optimizing the acquisition time of a clinical PET scan using GATE

Karakatsanis, NA; Loudos, G; Nikita, KS

dc.contributor.author	Karakatsanis, NA	en
dc.contributor.author	Loudos, G	en
dc.contributor.author	Nikita, KS	en
dc.date.accessioned	2014-03-01T02:45:54Z
dc.date.available	2014-03-01T02:45:54Z
dc.date.issued	2009	en
dc.identifier.issn	10957863	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://dspace.lib.ntua.gr/xmlui/handle/123456789/32446
dc.subject	Body Size	en
dc.subject	Critical Parameter	en
dc.subject	Motion Artifact	en
dc.subject	Nuclear Medicine	en
dc.subject	Simulation Study	en
dc.subject	Time Window	en
dc.subject	Low Dose	en
dc.subject	Noise Equivalent Count	en
dc.subject.other	Acquisition time	en
dc.subject.other	Body sizes	en
dc.subject.other	Counting rates	en
dc.subject.other	Critical parameter	en
dc.subject.other	Deadtime	en
dc.subject.other	Different sizes	en
dc.subject.other	Dose range	en
dc.subject.other	Energy windows	en
dc.subject.other	Imaging protocol	en
dc.subject.other	Low dose	en
dc.subject.other	Motion artifact	en
dc.subject.other	Noise equivalent count rates	en
dc.subject.other	Noise equivalent counts	en
dc.subject.other	Optimization methodology	en
dc.subject.other	Peak values	en
dc.subject.other	PET Scan	en
dc.subject.other	PET/CT scanners	en
dc.subject.other	Projection data	en
dc.subject.other	Rate performance	en
dc.subject.other	Scanner systems	en
dc.subject.other	Scanning time	en
dc.subject.other	Simulation packages	en
dc.subject.other	Simulation studies	en
dc.subject.other	Statistical quality	en
dc.subject.other	Time windows	en
dc.subject.other	Image quality	en
dc.subject.other	Nuclear medicine	en
dc.subject.other	Nuclear physics	en
dc.subject.other	Optimization	en
dc.subject.other	Positron emission tomography	en
dc.subject.other	Probability density function	en
dc.subject.other	Vehicle routing	en
dc.subject.other	Scanning	en
dc.title	A methodology for optimizing the acquisition time of a clinical PET scan using GATE	en
heal.type	conferenceItem	en
heal.identifier.primary	10.1109/NSSMIC.2009.5401619	en
heal.identifier.secondary	http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/NSSMIC.2009.5401619	en
heal.identifier.secondary	5401619	en
heal.publicationDate	2009	en
heal.abstract	The acquisition time of a PET scan is a critical parameter when designing imaging protocols for clinical nuclear medicine studies. The statistical quality of the projection data increases when longer acquisition times are selected. However, very large scanning periods can limit the number of PET studies performed and, moreover, increase the probability of motion artifacts. The competing objectives of good statistical quality and short acquisition time are both depending on the counting rate performance of the system. The noise equivalent count rate (NECR), which measures the rate in which statistically important coincidence events are counted by a PET system, is employed in this study to quantify the counting-rate performance. Thus, higher NECR values allow for acquisition of relatively larger number of true coincidence counts at the same scanning time. NECR is directly depending, for a particular patient-scanner system, on the amount of radioactive dose injected into the patient and acquires a peak value for a certain range of dose values. Thus, a minimal acquisition time can be achieved by estimating this optimal dose range prior to a scan. In this simulation study we propose an alternative optimization methodology. Initially, a regular low dose is selected and used as a constant. Then the NECR response is modeled, using Geant4 Application for Tomography Emission (GATE) simulation package, as a function of the parameters of the patient's body size, the coincidence time window, the dead-time response and the energy window. Subsequently, the optimal scanning time is estimated, based on the simulated NECR, as the minimal scanning time necessary to acquire 20 million noise equivalent counts (NEC) per bed position. For this purpose, we employed a validated Biograph PET/CT scanner model, where six hypothetical dead-time responses were simulated as well as three coincidence time windows. Finally, we used three NCAT phantoms of different size, and four energy windows. ©2009 IEEE.	en
heal.journalName	IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record	en
dc.identifier.doi	10.1109/NSSMIC.2009.5401619	en
dc.identifier.spage	2896	en
dc.identifier.epage	2901	en