Abstract
By following the daily quality control procedures for both the CT and the PET components of the combined PET-CT systems, the likelihood for artifacts intrinsic to PET-CT hardware can be reduced. If technical problems are detected, immediate action can help to avoid poor quality exams. The methodologic origins of PET-CT imaging artifacts are generally understood and corrections exist for most of them. Nevertheless, prospective measures, such as accurate patient positioning, optimized contrast administration protocols, and breath-hold instructions help reduce the magnitude and frequency of image artifacts in PET-CT. Limiting patient motion prospectively is even more important when using tracers that are more specific than FDG and therefore offer little, if any, anatomic information from the PET alone. The importance of carefully reviewing fused CT and PET images, with and without attenuation correction, must be stressed.
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Beyer, T. (2011). Technical Artifacts in PET-CT Imaging. In: Shreve, P., Townsend, D. (eds) Clinical PET-CT in Radiology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-48902-5_5
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