Having diagnostic whole-body PET/CT exam times faster than typical scans would be a significant benefit in cancer care for patients facing multiple scans during their treatment. Faster scan times would also reduce radiation dose and improve workflows, according to a group at the University of Cincinnati.
A team led by presenter Dr. Michelle Knopp, chief resident of internal medicine, aimed to validate the clinical equivalence of ultrafast (two-minute), low-dose (5-mCi) oncologic whole-body FDG-PET/CT imaging using adaptive regularized reconstruction compared to conventional 20-minute scans. The group studied the technique in 275 prospectively enrolled cancer patients.
The researchers found that regularized adaptive reconstruction was essential and enabled all patients with a body mass index (BMI) less than 35 (n = 213) to be assessed as diagnostic. In the 62 patients with BMIs above 35, seven were classified as nondiagnostic, 19 as limited, and 36 as diagnostic.
An additional investigation using a simulated extended acquisition time of four minutes in cases rated limited or nondiagnostic demonstrated all to be diagnostic.
"This study confirmed diagnostic equivalency even at the lowest allowable dose," Knopp and colleagues wrote.
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