So far, Dr. Felipe de Galiza Barbosa and colleagues from the University of Zurich have found PET/MRI with time-of-flight to be a reliable method for quantifying standardized uptake values (SUVs) and producing good image quality in a cohort of oncology patients.
The researchers prospectively enrolled 27 subjects, who underwent FDG-PET/CT and FDG-PET/MRI scans. They compared the results using criteria such as maximum and mean SUV for neoplastic lesions and physiological structures with and without TOF as part of the MRI protocol.
General image quality was significantly superior in non-TOF and TOF reconstruction in PET/MRI, compared with PET/CT, according to the group. Also, PET/MRI with TOF had better image quality than non-TOF PET/MRI.
"Basically PET/MRI with TOF improves the signal-to-noise ratio, improving image quality, conspicuity, and detectability in small lesions," de Galiza Barbosa told AuntMinnie.com.
"The main clinical benefit from this finding is that radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians can have better quality while imaging whole-body PET/MR and consequently be more confident reporting important possible findings," he added.
