RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Performance Evaluation of a New Dedicated Breast PET Scanner Using NEMA NU4-2008 Standards
JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine
JO J Nucl Med
FD Society of Nuclear Medicine
SP 1198
OP 1203
DO 10.2967/jnumed.113.131565
VO 55
IS 7
A1 Kanae K. Miyake
A1 Keiichi Matsumoto
A1 Mika Inoue
A1 Yuji Nakamoto
A1 Shotaro Kanao
A1 Tae Oishi
A1 Shigeto Kawase
A1 Keishi Kitamura
A1 Yoshiyuki Yamakawa
A1 Ayako Akazawa
A1 Tetsuya Kobayashi
A1 Junichi Ohi
A1 Kaori Togashi
YR 2014
UL http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/55/7/1198.abstract
AB The aim of this work was to evaluate the performance characteristics of a newly developed dedicated breast PET scanner, according to National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) NU 4-2008 standards. Methods: The dedicated breast PET scanner consists of 4 layers of a 32 × 32 lutetium oxyorthosilicate–based crystal array, a light guide, and a 64-channel position-sensitive photomultiplier tube. The size of a crystal element is 1.44 × 1.44 × 4.5 mm. The detector ring has a large solid angle with a 185-mm aperture and an axial coverage of 155.5 mm. The energy windows at depth of interaction for the first and second layers are 400–800 keV, and those at the third and fourth layers are 100–800 keV. A fixed timing window of 4.5 ns was used for all acquisitions. Spatial resolution, sensitivity, counting rate capabilities, and image quality were evaluated in accordance with NEMA NU 4-2008 standards. Human imaging was performed in addition to the evaluation. Results: Radial, tangential, and axial spatial resolution measured as minimal full width at half maximum approached 1.6, 1.7, and 2.0 mm, respectively, for filtered backprojection reconstruction and 0.8, 0.8, and 0.8 mm, respectively, for dynamic row-action maximum-likelihood algorithm reconstruction. The peak absolute sensitivity of the system was 11.2%. Scatter fraction at the same acquisition settings was 30.1% for the rat-sized phantom. Peak noise-equivalent counting rate and peak true rate for the ratlike phantom was 374 kcps at 25 MBq and 603 kcps at 31 MBq, respectively. In the image-quality phantom study, recovery coefficients and uniformity were 0.04–0.82 and 1.9%, respectively, for standard reconstruction mode and 0.09–0.97 and 4.5%, respectively, for enhanced-resolution mode. Human imaging provided high-contrast images with restricted background noise for standard reconstruction mode and high-resolution images for enhanced-resolution mode. Conclusion: The dedicated breast PET scanner has excellent spatial resolution and high sensitivity. The performance of the dedicated breast PET scanner is considered to be reasonable enough to support its use in breast cancer imaging.