Intrascanner Reproducibility of an SPM-Based Head MR-Based Attenuation Correction Method
Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Recently, an exhaustive examination of 11 state-of-the-art MR-based attenuation correction (AC) concluded that there are currently a few methods showing similar results compared to the gold-standard, CT-based AC. While the study presented a thorough portfolio of metrics to quantify accuracy (bias) and quality, it lacked one of the most important metrics to quantify robustness that is critical for its clinical applicability: intrascanner reproducibility (repeatability). In this paper, we provide for the first time a study of the repeatability of one of the outperforming brain MR-based AC methods: the statistical parametric mapping (SPM)-based pseudo-CT approach. Twenty two subjects undergoing 3 18F-FDG PET/MRI visits within two months were retrospectively analyzed in this paper. Pseudo-CT mu-maps were obtained from the coregistered MR images for all three visits and the PET data from visit 1 was reconstructed using all three mu-maps. Relative changes (RC), intraclass correlation coefficient, reproducibility coefficient (RDC95%) and Bland-Altman limits of agreement were used to measure repeatability. Voxel-based and regions of interest-based results showed that absolute RC for the reconstructed PET images are within ~2%. The brain cortex and the cerebellum were the regions with the largest variability (~3%). The differences across visits were not statistically significant (p = 0.90). In conclusion, this paper shows for the first time the repeatability of the SPM-based pseudo-CT approach for brain MR-based AC. These results, in addition to the ease of implementation and the quality and robustness previously demonstrated, confer this SPM-based method an ideal candidate for routine brain PET/MRI research and clinical studies.
Language: English
Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University, Harvard Catalyst, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Center for Research Resources, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Awards: G1243485958, G1340457661, G1470284823, G2719813736, G393103480, MR-assisted PET data optimization for neuroimaging studies, G578801012, G6266017498, G7060033699, PET Imaging of Pulmonary Fibrosis, High Resolution PET Camera for Brain Imaging, A Storage Area Network for Structural and Functional Image Analysis, G9000032172, G9000161140, Silicon Graphics Prism Extreme 128P/1TB
OpenAlex ID: W2892085153