Abstract

Purpose

Performance standards for quantitative 18F-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 68Ga. Therefore, our aim was to evaluate 68Ga-PET/CT quantification variability in a multicentre setting.

Methods

A survey across Dutch hospitals was performed to evaluate differences in clinical 68Ga PET/CT study protocols. 68Ga and 18F phantom acquisitions were performed by 8 centres with 13 different PET/CT systems according to EARL protocol. The cylindrical phantom and NEMA image quality (IQ) phantom were used to assess image noise and to identify recovery coefficients (RCs) for quantitative analysis. Both phantoms were used to evaluate cross-calibration between the PET/CT system and local dose calibrator.

Results

The survey across Dutch hospitals showed a large variation in clinical 68Ga PET/CT acquisition and reconstruction protocols. 68Ga PET/CT image noise was below 10%. Cross-calibration was within 10% deviation, except for one system to overestimate 18F and two systems to underestimate the 68Ga activity concentration. RC-curves for 18F and 68Ga were within and on the lower limit of current EARL standards, respectively. After correction for local 68Ga/18F cross-calibration, mean 68Ga performance was 5% below mean EARL performance specifications.

Conclusions

68Ga PET/CT quantification performs on the lower limits of the current EARL RC standards for 18F. Correction for local 68Ga/18F cross-calibration mismatch is advised, while maintaining the EARL reconstruction protocol thereby avoiding multiple EARL protocols.

Details

Title
Multicentre quantitative 68Ga PET/CT performance harmonisation
Author
Huizing, Daphne M V 1 ; Koopman, Daniëlle 2 ; van Dalen, Jorn A 3 ; Gotthardt, Martin 4 ; Boellaard, Ronald 5 ; Sera, Terez 6 ; Sinaasappel, Michiel 7 ; Stokkel, Marcel P M 1 ; Berlinda J de Wit-van der Veen 1 

 Department of Nuclear Medicine, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 
 Department of Nuclear Medicine, Isala, Zwolle, The Netherlands 
 Department of Medical Physics, Isala, Zwolle, The Netherlands 
 Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands 
 Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Centres, location VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University of Groningen and University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands; EANM Research Limited (EARL), Vienna, Austria 
 EANM Research Limited (EARL), Vienna, Austria 
 Department of Physics, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 
Pages
1-9
Publication year
2019
Publication date
Nov 2019
Publisher
Springer Nature B.V.
e-ISSN
21977364
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2313060961
Copyright
EJNMMI Physics is a copyright of Springer, (2019). All Rights Reserved., © 2019. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.