Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Performance of list mode data acquisition with ECAT EXACT HR and ECAT EXACT HR+ positron emission scanners

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Nuclear Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recently, list mode (event-by-event) data acquisition with positron emission tomography (PET) has been widely noticed because list mode acquisition is superior to conventional frame mode data acquisition in terms of (1) higher efficiency of data storage, (2) higher temporal resolution, and (3) higher flexibility of data manipulation. The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of list mode data acquisition with ECAT EXACT HR and HR+ PET scanners (CTI PET Systems) and its feasibility in clinical applications. A cylindrical phantom (16 cm in diameter and length) filled with a ’ ’C solution for the HR and a15O solution for the HR+ was scanned several times by varying the radioactivity concentration with the list mode and frame mode acquisitions. The scans were also carried out with a septa (2D mode) and without a septa (3D mode) in order to evaluate the effect of the interplane septa on the quality of the list mode data. The acquired list mode data were sorted into a sinogram and reconstructed using a filtered back-projection algorithm. The count rate performance of the list mode data was comparable to that of the frame mode data. However, the list mode acquisition could not be performed when the radioactivity concentration in the field-of-view was high (exceeding 24 kBq/m/ for the 3D mode) due to a lack of sufficient transfer speed for sending data from the memory to hard disk. In order to estimate the pixel noise in a reconstructed image, ten replicated data sets were generated from one list mode data. The reconstructed images with the 3D mode had a signal-to-noise ratio that was more than 60% better than that of the image with the 2D mode. The file size of the generated list mode data was also evaluated. In the case of ECAT EXACT HR+ with the 3D list mode, the list mode data with a generated file size of 2.31 Mbytes/s were generated for 37 MBq injections. Our results suggest that careful attention must be paid to the protocol of the list mode data acquisition in order to obtain the highest performance of the PET scanner.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bloomfield PM, Spinks TJ, Reed J, Schnorr L, Westrip AM0, Livieratos L, et al. The design and implementation of a motion correction scheme for neurological PET.Phys Med Biol 2003; 48 (8): 959–978.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Woo SK, Watabe H, Choi Y, Kim KM, Park CC, Bloomfield PM, et al. Sinogram-based motion correction of PET images using optical motion tracking system and list-mode data acquisition.IEEE Trans Nucl Sci 2004; 51 (3): 782–788.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Nichols TE, Qi J, Asma E, Leahy RM. Spatiotemporal reconstruction of list-mode PET data.IEEE Trans Med Imaging 2002; 21 (4): 396–404.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Wienhard K, Dahlbom M, Eriksson L, Michel C, Bruckbauer T, Pietrzyk U, et al. The ECAT EXACT HR: Performance of a new high resolution positron scanner.J Comput Assist Totnogr 1994; 18(1): 110–118.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Brix G, Zaers J, Adam LE, Bellemann ME, Ostertag H, Trojan H, et al. Performance evaluation of a whole-body PET scanner using the NEMA protocol national electrical manufacturers association.J Nucl Med 1997; 38 (10): 1614–1623.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Defrise M, Liu X. A fast rebinning algorithm for 3D positron emission tomography using Johns equation.Inverse Problems 1999; 15: 1047–1065.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Huesman RH, Klein GJ, Moses WW, Qi J, Reutter BW, Virador PR. List-mode maximum-likelihood reconstruction applied to positron emission mammography (PEM) with irregular sampling.IEEE Trans Med Imaging 2000; 19 (5): 532–537.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Levkovitz R, Falikman D, Zibulevsky M, Ben-tal A, Nemirovski A. The design and implementation of cosem, an iterative algorithm for fully 3-D listmode data.IEEE Trans Med Imaging 2001; 20 (7): 633–642.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Byrne C. Likelihood maximization for list-mode emission tomographic image reconstruction.IEEE Trans Med Imaging 2001; 20 (10): 1084–1092.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Watabe H, Woo Sk, Kim KM, Kudomi N, Iida H Performance improvement of event-based motion correction for PET using a PC cluster. Conference Record of IEEE Trans Nuclear Science and Medical Imaging Coeference, 2003.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Investigative Radiology, National Cardiovascular Center Research Institute, 5-7-1 Fujishiro-dai, Suita, 565-8565, Osaka, Japan

    Hiroshi Watabe

  2. Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation, Japan

    Keüchi Matsumoto, Michio Senda & Hidehiro Iida

Authors
  1. Hiroshi Watabe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Keüchi Matsumoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Michio Senda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hidehiro Iida
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiroshi Watabe.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Watabe, H., Matsumoto, K., Senda, M. et al. Performance of list mode data acquisition with ECAT EXACT HR and ECAT EXACT HR+ positron emission scanners. Ann Nucl Med 20, 189–194 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03027429

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03027429

Key words

Search

Navigation