Abstract
Rationale: Respiratory motion negatively affects PET/CT image quality and quantitation. A novel pulsatile-flow ventilation (PFV) system reducing respiratory motion (Transrespirator®, Percussionaire®) was applied in spontaneously-breathing patients to induce sustained apnea during PET/CT. Methods: Four patients (aged 65±14y) underwent PET/CT for pulmonary nodule staging (mean Ø11±7mm, range 5–18mm) 63±3min after 18F-FDG injection. PET/CT was repeated during PFV-induced apnea (≥8.5min), 47±7min thereafter. Anterior-posterior thoracic amplitude, maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and SUVpeak (mean SUV in 1-cm-diameter sphere) were compared. Results: PFV-PET/CT reduced thoracic amplitude (–80%), increased mean lesion SUVmax (+29%) and SUVpeak (+11%), decreased lung background SUVpeak (–25%), improved lesion detectability, and SUVpeak lesion-to-background ratio (+54%). On linear regressions, SUVmax and SUVpeak significantly improved (+35% and +23%, p≤0.02, respectively). Conclusion: PFV-induced apnea reduces thoracic organs motion and increases lesion SUV, detectability and delineation. This might impact clinical patient management by improving diagnosis, prognostication, monitoring and external radiation therapy planning.
- Oncology: Lung
- PET/CT
- Respiratory
- HFPV®
- High-Frequency Percussive Ventilation®
- PET/CT
- Pulsatile-Flow Ventilation
- Respiratory Motion
- Copyright © 2015 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Inc.