Typical Calibration Procedure and Recommended Additions
Step | Procedure |
1 | Assay syringe with 18F. Record activity and time. |
2 | Inject and mix 18F in water-filled 20-cm-diameter cylinder. |
3 | Reassay syringe for residual activity. Record activity and time. |
4 | Scan phantom, reconstruct image, and measure average value per milliliter from large ROI. |
5 | Compute new scanner calibration factor (g in Eq. 3) as ratio of ROI average to net concentration in phantom after decay correction. |
6* | Compare new scanner calibration factor with average of prior scanner calibration factors. |
7* | If there is more than a small difference (e.g., 5%), check all measurement and data entry steps, or repeat steps 1–6. |
8 | Install calculated scale factor as new scanner calibration for subsequent patient scans. |
9* | Scan a known test object (e.g., 68Ge/68Ga phantom) using standard clinical protocol and measure kBq/mL on reconstructed image. |
10* | If there is more than a small difference in measured activity from previous images of test object (e.g., 5%), check all measurement and data entry steps, or repeat steps 1–8. |
* Recommended additions to typical calibration procedures.