Accurate total-body Ki parametric imaging with shortened dynamic 18F-FDG PET scan durations via effective data processing

Background Total-body dynamic positron emission tomography (dPET) imaging using F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-18-FDG) has received widespread attention in clinical oncology. However, the conventionally required scan duration of approximately 1 h seriously limits the application and promotion of this imaging technique. In this study, we investigated the possibility and feasibility of shortening the total-body dynamic scan duration to 30 min post-injection (PI) with the help of a novel Patlak data processing algorithm for accurate K-i estimations of tumor lesions. Methods Total-body dPET images acquired by uEXPLORER (United Imaging Healthcare Inc.) using F-18-FDG of 15 patients with different tumor types were analyzed in this study. Dynamic images were reconstructed into 25 frames with a specific temporal dividing protocol for the scan data acquired 1 h PI. Patlak analysis-based K-i parametric imaging was conducted based on the imaging data corresponding to the first 30 min PI, during which a Patlak data processing method based on cubic Hermite interpolation was applied. The resultant K-i images acquired by 30 min dynamic PET data and the standard 1 h K-i images were compared in terms of visual imaging effect, region signal-to-noise ratio, and K-i estimation accuracy to evaluate the performance of the proposed K-i imaging method with a shortened scan duration. Results With the help of Patlak data processing, acceptable K-i parametric images were obtained from dynamic PET data acquired with a scan duration of 30 min PI. Compared with K-i images obtained from unprocessed Patlak data, the resulting images from the proposed method performed better in terms of noise reduction. Moreover, Bland-Altman plot and Pearson correlation coefficient analysis showed that that 30 min K-i images obtained from the processed Patlak data had higher accuracy for tumor lesions. Conclusion Satisfactory K-i parametric images with high tumor accuracy can be acquired from dynamic imaging data corresponding to the first 30 min PI. Patlak data processing can help achieve higher K-i imaging quality and higher accuracy regarding tumor lesion K-i values. Clinically, it is possible to shorten the dynamic scan duration of F-18-FDG PET to 30 min to acquire an accurate tumor K-i and further effective tumor detection with uEXPLORER scanners.