PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Alexander R. Stahl AU - Till A. Heusner AU - Verena Hartung AU - James Nagarajah AU - Andreas Bockisch AU - Steffen Hahn AU - Gerald Antoch AU - Walter Jentzen TI - Time Course of Tumor SUV in <sup>18</sup>F-FDG PET of Breast Cancer: Presentation of a Simple Model Using a Single Reference Point for Time Corrections of Tumor SUVs AID - 10.2967/jnumed.110.077461 DP - 2011 Jan 01 TA - Journal of Nuclear Medicine PG - 18--23 VI - 52 IP - 1 4099 - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/52/1/18.short 4100 - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/52/1/18.full SO - J Nucl Med2011 Jan 01; 52 AB - Tumor standardized uptake values (SUVs) vary with the interval between 18F-FDG injection and image acquisition. This paper presents a simple method using a single reference point to make appropriate time corrections for tumor SUVs. Methods: The reference point method was algebraically deduced from observations made by Beaulieu et al., who found that tumor SUVs behaved linearly over time (∼30 to 75 min after 18F-FDG injection). Eighteen patients with breast cancer were dynamically examined with PET/CT (∼60 and 80 min after 18F-FDG injection). Maximum SUV was calculated by applying 2 different iterative reconstruction methods (high-definition reconstruction and attenuation-weighted ordered-subsets expectation maximization). Reference points for time corrections were given, and errors for corrections obtained with the reference point method were calculated. Results: Variations in the reconstruction algorithm strongly influenced the coordinates of the reference point. Time corrections using the reference point method were more accurate at higher tumor SUVs (&gt;8 at high-definition reconstruction and &gt;6 at attenuation-weighted ordered-subsets expectation maximization) than at lower ones. Conclusion: A common origin of tumor SUVs over time exists in breast cancer. In combination with the linear behavior of tumor SUVs between approximately 30 and 80 min, such a reference point allows for straightforward time corrections of tumor SUVs. Parameters for image reconstruction must be considered because they influence the coordinates of the reference point.