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The importance of correction for tissue fraction effects in lung PET: preliminary findings

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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

It has recently been recognized that PET/CT may play a role in diffuse parenchymal lung disease. However, interpretation can be confounded due to the variability in lung density both within and between individuals. To address this issue a novel correction method is proposed.

Methods

A CT scan acquired during shallow breathing is registered to a PET study and smoothed so as to match the PET resolution. This is used to derive voxel-based tissue fraction correction factors for the individual. The method was evaluated in a lung phantom study in which the lung was simulated by a Styrofoam/water mixture. The method was further evaluated using 18F-FDG in 12 subjects free from pulmonary disease where ranges before and after correction were considered.

Results

Correction resulted in similar activity concentrations for the lung and background regions, consistent with the experimental phantom set-up. Correction resulted in reduced inter- and intrasubject variability in the estimated SUV. The possible application of the method was further demonstrated in five subjects with interstitial lung changes where increased SUV was demonstrated. Single study pre- and post-treatment studies were also analysed to further illustrate the utility of the method.

Conclusion

The proposed tissue fraction correction method is a promising technique to account for variability of density in interpreting lung PET studies.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge support for some scan costs and partial salary (T.L.) from GlaxoSmithKline (CRT115549). We also thank Dr. Pauline Lukey and Dr. Aiden Flynn (Fibrosis DPU, GSK) as well as the CRAFT Consortium for useful discussions. Also UCL/UCLH receives a portion of its research funding from the UK Department of Health’s NIHR Biomedical Research Centre funding scheme.

Conflicts of Interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Nuclear Medicine, University College London, 235 Euston Road (T5), London, NW1 2BU, UK

    Tryphon Lambrou, Ashley M. Groves, Kjell Erlandsson, Raymondo Endozo & Brian F. Hutton

  2. Radiology, Papworth Hospital, Papworth Everard, Cambridge, CB3 8RE, UK

    Nick Screaton

  3. Respiratory Medicine, Lister Hospital, Stevenage, SG1 4AB, UK

    Thida Win

  4. Centre for Respiratory Diseases, University College London Hospitals NHS Trust, Euston Road, London, NW1 2BU, UK

    Joanna C Porter

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  1. Tryphon Lambrou
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  2. Ashley M. Groves
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  3. Kjell Erlandsson
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  4. Nick Screaton
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  5. Raymondo Endozo
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  6. Thida Win
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  7. Joanna C Porter
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  8. Brian F. Hutton
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brian F. Hutton.

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Lambrou, T., Groves, A.M., Erlandsson, K. et al. The importance of correction for tissue fraction effects in lung PET: preliminary findings. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 38, 2238–2246 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-011-1906-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-011-1906-x

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