Optimization of imaging protocols for myocardial blood flow (MBF) quantification with 18F-flurpiridaz PET

Kanyalak Wiyaporn, Chiraporn Tocharoenchai, Pawana Pusuwan, Takahiro Higuchi, George S.K. Fung, Tao Feng, Min Jae Park, Benjamin M.W. Tsui

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The new PET tracer, 18F-flurpiridaz, with high myocardial extraction allows quantitative myocardial blood flow (MBF) estimation from dynamic PET data and tracer kinetic modeling. The goal of this study is to determine the optimal imaging protocols and parameters using a realistic simulation study. The time activity curves (TACs) of different tissue organs from a 30-s infusion time (IT) of 18F-flurpiridaz in a dynamic PET study were extracted from a previous study. The TACs at different time points were incorporated in a series of realistic 3D XCAT phantoms from which the parameters of a 2-compartment model and the ‘true’ MBF of 18F-flurpiridaz were determined. The compartmental model was used to generate TACs from 7 additional ITs. PET projection data from the XCAT phantoms were generated using Monte Carlo simulation. They were reconstructed using an OS-EM reconstruction algorithm with different update number (N) to obtain dynamic PET images. The blood and myocardial TACs were derived from the dynamic images from which the MBF and %MBF error was estimated. The %MBF error decreases with increasing N of the OS-EM and levels off after ∼42. The 30-s IT gave the smallest %MBF error that decreases from ∼0.57% to ∼19.40%. The MBF for 2-min, 4-min, 8-min and 16-min IT were statistically significant different from the MBF for 30-s IT (P < 0.05). Too fast or too slow infusion time gave higher %MBF error. The optimal imaging protocol in dynamic 18F-flurpiridaz PET for accurate quantitative MBF estimation was 30-s IT and N of ∼42 for the OS-EM.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)127-134
Number of pages8
JournalPhysica Medica
Volume42
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2017

Keywords

  • F-flurpiridaz
  • Imaging protocols
  • Myocardial blood flow
  • PET

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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