Quantitative and qualitative assessment of Yttrium-90 PET/CT imaging

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 4;9(11):e110401. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110401. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Yttrium-90 is known to have a low positron emission decay of 32 ppm that may allow for personalized dosimetry of liver cancer therapy with (90)Y labeled microspheres. The aim of this work was to image and quantify (90)Y so that accurate predictions of the absorbed dose can be made. The measurements were performed within the QUEST study (University of Sydney, and Sirtex Medical, Australia). A NEMA IEC body phantom containing 6 fillable spheres (10-37 mm ∅) was used to measure the 90Y distribution with a Biograph mCT PET/CT (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) with time-of-flight (TOF) acquisition. A sphere to background ratio of 8:1, with a total (90)Y activity of 3 GBq was used. Measurements were performed for one week (0, 3, 5 and 7 d). he acquisition protocol consisted of 30 min-2 bed positions and 120 min-single bed position. Images were reconstructed with 3D ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM) and point spread function (PSF) for iteration numbers of 1-12 with 21 (TOF) and 24 (non-TOF) subsets and CT based attenuation and scatter correction. Convergence of algorithms and activity recovery was assessed based on regions-of-interest (ROI) analysis of the background (100 voxels), spheres (4 voxels) and the central low density insert (25 voxels). For the largest sphere, the recovery coefficient (RC) values for the 30 min -2-bed position, 30 min-single bed and 120 min-single bed were 1.12 ± 0.20, 1.14 ± 0.13, 0.97 ± 0.07 respectively. For the smaller diameter spheres, the PSF algorithm with TOF and single bed acquisition provided a comparatively better activity recovery. Quantification of Y-90 using Biograph mCT PET/CT is possible with a reasonable accuracy, the limitations being the size of the lesion and the activity concentration present. At this stage, based on our study, it seems advantageous to use different protocols depending on the size of the lesion.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Calibration
  • Humans
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional
  • Liver Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Positron-Emission Tomography* / standards
  • Radiopharmaceuticals* / chemistry
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed* / standards
  • Yttrium Radioisotopes / chemistry

Substances

  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Yttrium Radioisotopes

Grants and funding

The studies reported in this publication were financially supported by Sirtex (Sydney, Australia), which is developing products related to research described in this publication. The authors (F.M. and G.G.) gratefully acknowledge a grant by the "Stiftung für Krebs und Scharlachforschung Mannheim" (Foundation for Cancer and Scarlatina Research). KW is supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP110201109), of which Sirtex is a contributor as one of the linkage partners. The funder provided support in the form of salaries for authors (KW), but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the 'author contributions' section.