Contrast enhanced CT on PET/CT imaging in clinical routine: an international survey

Salvatore Annunziata; Nathalie Testart; Katharina Auf der Springe; Marco Cuzzocrea; Marie Nicod Lalonde; Niklaus Schaefer; John O Prior; Valentina Garibotto; Giorgio Treglia

doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1290956

Contrast enhanced CT on PET/CT imaging in clinical routine: an international survey

Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 Oct 16:10:1290956. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1290956. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Salvatore Annunziata¹, Nathalie Testart², Katharina Auf der Springe², Marco Cuzzocrea³, Marie Nicod Lalonde^{2

4}, Niklaus Schaefer^{2

4}, John O Prior^{2

4}, Valentina Garibotto^{5

6

7}, Giorgio Treglia^{2

3

4

8}

Affiliations

¹ Unità di Medicina Nucleare, GSTeP Radiopharmacy, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
² Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Department, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland.
³ Clinic of Nuclear Medicine, Imaging Institute of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona, Switzerland.
⁴ Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁵ Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Innovative Molecular Tracers (NIMTlab), Geneva University Neurocentre and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁶ Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁷ Centre for Biomedical Imaging, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁸ Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland.

Abstract

Aim: To perform an international survey about PET/CT imaging with contrast enhanced CT (PET/ceCT) in clinical routine worldwide.

Methods: A questionnaire of ten questions was prepared for health professionals, addressing the following issues: (1) general demographic, hospital, and department information; (2) use and diffusion of PET/ceCT worldwide; (3) factors influencing the use of PET/ceCT. An invitation to the survey was sent to the corresponding authors of NM scientific articles indexed in SCOPUS in 2022 and dedicated to PET/CT imaging. Data were analysed per individual responder.

Results: 191 individual responders worldwide participated in this survey. Most of the responders are using PET/ceCT in their center (74%). Interestingly, the relative use of PET/ceCT over the total PET/CT scans has an anti-Gaussian distribution (<20% ceCT and > 80% ceCT were most represented). Most of responders are using PET/ceCT in oncological settings (62%) and irrespectively from radiopharmaceuticals (62%). In most cases, PET/ceCT scans are reported by NM physicians alone or together by NM physicians and radiologists with an integrated report (31%).

Conclusion: PET/ceCT imaging is largely used worldwide. Local factors can affect the choice of PET/ceCT in respect to conventional PET/CT imaging. Further cost-benefit analysis could be useful to consider other possible influencing variables, such as technologies, dosimetry, department organization and economics.

Keywords: CT; PET; contrast; enhancement; survey.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.