Motion-Corrected Imaging of the Aortic Valve with 18F-NaF PET/CT and PET/MRI: A Feasibility Study

J Nucl Med. 2017 Nov;58(11):1811-1814. doi: 10.2967/jnumed.117.194597. Epub 2017 May 25.

Abstract

We investigated whether motion correction of gated 18F-fluoride PET/CT and PET/MRI of the aortic valve could improve PET quantitation and image quality. Methods: A diffeomorphic, mass-preserving, anatomy-guided registration algorithm was used to align the PET images from 4 cardiac gates, preserving all counts, and apply them to the PET/MRI and PET/CT data of 6 patients with aortic stenosis. Measured signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and target-to-background ratios (TBRs) were compared with the standard method of using only the diastolic gate. Results: High-intensity aortic valve 18F-fluoride uptake was observed in all patients. After motion correction, SNR and TBR increased compared with the median diastolic gate (SNR, 51.61 vs. 21.0; TBR, 2.85 vs. 2.22) and the median summed data (SNR, 51.61 vs. 34.10; TBR, 2.85 vs. 1.95) (P = 0.028 for all). Furthermore, noise decreased from 0.105 (median, diastolic) to 0.042 (median, motion-corrected) (P = 0.028). Conclusion: Motion correction of hybrid 18F-fluoride PET markedly improves SNR, resulting in improved image quality.

Keywords: 18F-fluoride; PET-CT; PET-MR; aortic stenosis; motion correction.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Algorithms
  • Aortic Valve / diagnostic imaging*
  • Aortic Valve Stenosis / diagnostic imaging
  • Feasibility Studies
  • Fluorine Radioisotopes
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multimodal Imaging
  • Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography / methods*
  • Radiopharmaceuticals*
  • Signal-To-Noise Ratio
  • Sodium Fluoride*

Substances

  • Fluorine Radioisotopes
  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Sodium Fluoride