RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Standardization of preclinical PET/CT imaging to improve quantitative accuracy, precision and reproducibility: a multi-center study JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine JO J Nucl Med FD Society of Nuclear Medicine SP jnumed.119.231308 DO 10.2967/jnumed.119.231308 A1 McDougald, Wendy A1 Vanhove, Christian A1 Lehnert, Adrienne A1 Lewellen, Barbara A1 Wright, John A1 Mingarelli, Marco A1 Corral, Carlos A1 Schneider, Jurgen A1 Plein, Sven A1 Newby, David A1 Welch, Andy A1 Miyaoka, Robert A1 Vandenberghe, Stefaan A1 Tavares, Adriana A. S. YR 2019 UL http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/early/2019/09/26/jnumed.119.231308.abstract AB Preclinical Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) is a well-established non-invasive imaging tool for studying disease development/progression and the development of novel radiotracers and pharmaceuticals for clinical applications. Despite this pivotal role, standardization of preclinical PET/CT protocols, including CT absorbed dose guidelines, is essentially non-existent. This study: (1) quantitatively assesses the variability of current preclinical PET/CT acquisition and reconstruction protocols routinely used across multiple centers and scanners; and (2) proposes acquisition and reconstruction PET/CT protocols for standardization of multi-center data, optimized for routine scanning in preclinical PET/CT laboratory. Methods: Five different commercial preclinical PET/CT scanners in Europe and USA were enrolled. Seven different PET/CT phantoms were used for evaluating biases on default/general scanner protocols; followed by developing standardized protocols. PET, CT and absorbed dose biases were assessed. Results: Site default CT protocols: Greatest extracted Hounsfield Units (HU) for water was 133HU and -967HU for air, significant differences in all tissue equivalent material (TEM) groups were measured. Average CT absorbed dose for mouse and rat was 72mGy and 40mGy, respectively. Standardized CT protocol: Greatest extracted HU for water was -77HU and -990HU for air, TEM precision improved with a reduction in variability for each tissue group. Average CT absorbed dose for mouse and rat was reduced to 37mGy and 24mGy, respectively. Site default PET protocols: Uniformity was substandard in one scanner, Recovery Coefficients (RCs) were either over or under estimated (maximum of 43%), standard uptake values (SUVs) were biased by a maximum of 44%. Standardized PET protocol: Scanner with substandard uniformity improved by 36%, RC variability was reduced by 13% points and SUV accuracy improved to 10%. Conclusion: Data revealed important quantitative bias in preclinical PET/CT and absorbed doses with default protocols. Standardized protocols showed improvements in measured PET/CT accuracy and precision with reduced CT absorbed dose across sites. Adhering to standardized protocols generates reproducible and consistent preclinical imaging datasets, thus augmenting translation of research findings to the clinic.