Background: The low throughout of small animal positron emission tomography (PET) images acquisitions represents a substantial limitation. The aims of this study were (i) to design a low-cost support for simultaneous dynamic PET scanning of two lying rats and (ii) to study its impact on brain image quantification.
Results: Accuracy of concentration measurement was 5.5% for one phantom in the field of view, and 5.7% for two phantoms measured simultaneously. Ratio concentration between phantoms showed an error of 6.7% ± 5.1% for Solo upper position, 6.7% ± 3.7% for Solo lower position, 5.9% ± 4.3% for Duo upper position, and 7.4% ± 6% for Duo lower position 6.7% for separated measures, and 6.6% for simultaneous measures. In vivo distribution profiles showed no difference between solo and duo uptakes. Region of Interest quantification in the whole brain showed 4.4% variability solo and 3.5% duo. The quantified test-retest bias was 8% in solo and 5% in duo, and the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient was comparable in solo and duo (0.969 vs. 0.966).
Conclusions: Our results showed that simultaneous scans of two rats in INVEON do not affect quantification. The dual support system will allow us to reduce protocol costs and duration.
Keywords: 18F-FDG; PET/CT; Small animal imaging.
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