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The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) standard NU 4-2008 for performance measurements of smallanimal tomographs was recently published. Before this standard, there were no standard testing procedures for preclinical PET systems, and manufacturers could not provide clear specifications similar to those available for clinical systems under NEMA NU 2-1994 and 2-2001. Consequently, performance evaluation papers used methods that were modified ad hoc from the clinical PET NEMA standard, thus making comparisons between systems difficult. Methods: We acquired NEMA NU 4-2008 performance data for a collection of commercial animal PET systems manufactured since 2000: micro- PET P4, microPET R4, microPET Focus 120, microPET Focus 220, Inveon, ClearPET, Mosaic HP, Argus (formerly eXplore Vista), VrPET, LabPET 8, and LabPET 12. The data included spatial resolution, counting-rate performance, scatter fraction, sensitivity, and image quality and were acquired using settings for routine PET. Results: The data showed a steady improvement in system performance for newer systems as compared with first-generation systems, with notable improvements in spatial resolution and sensitivity. Conclusion: Variation in system design makes direct comparisons between systems from different vendors difficult. When considering the results from NEMA testing, one must also consider the suitability of the PET system for the specific imaging task at hand.
Key Words: NEMA NU 4-2008; PET performance evaluation; positron emission tomography (PET); preclinical PET
J Nucl Med 2012; 53:1300-1309
DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.111.099382
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The use of PET to study animal models of human disease has been expanding. By the late 1990s, several groups had constructed prototype PET systems (1-9) because it had been found that significant benefits in spatial resolution, sensitivity, image quality, and quantification were achievable using systems designed specifically for small laboratory animals. In 2000, commercial preclinical PET systems became available, and over the next 10 y the performance and capabilities of these systems evolved rapidly.
The maturing market for preclinical PET systems led to the need for standardized methods of performance evaluation. Such standardization facilitates acceptance testing and routine monitoring and allows comparison between systems from different vendors and of different designs. To address this need, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) NU 4 standard was published in 2008 (10). Before then, there was no agreed-upon method to evaluate the performance of preclinical PET systems,...