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A Dual Tracer PET-MRI Protocol for the Quantitative Measure of Regional Brain Energy Substrates Uptake in the Rat
Published on: December 28, 2013
Toward implementing an MRI-based PET attenuation-correction method for neurologic studies on the MR-PET brain
Ciprian Catana1, Andre van der Kouwe, Thomas Benner
1Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, USA. ccatana@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu
Summary
This study developed an MRI-based attenuation correction (AC) method for MR-PET scanners, improving accuracy in neurologic imaging by addressing bone-air segmentation and radiofrequency coil effects. The novel method shows potential comparable to CT-based AC.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Biophysics
- Radiology
Background:
- Accurate attenuation correction (AC) is crucial for quantitative analysis in combined MR-PET scanners.
- Challenges include bone-air segmentation, bone attenuation coefficient selection, and radiofrequency coil positioning.
- Existing methods may not fully address these factors in integrated systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate challenges in MR-PET attenuation correction.
- To develop and validate an AC method based solely on MRI data for neurologic studies.
- To compare MRI-based AC with CT-based AC in an MR-PET human brain scanner.
Main Methods:
- Focused on bone-air segmentation and linear attenuation coefficient for bone.
- Introduced a novel dual-echo ultrashort echo time (DUTE) MRI sequence for head imaging.
- Acquired simultaneous MR-PET data and compared DUTE MRI-based AC with CT-based AC.
Main Results:
- Inaccurate bone attenuation correction can cause >20% underestimation of radiotracer concentration.
- Ignoring air cavities leads to >20% overestimation in adjacent structures.
- Radiofrequency coil attenuation can cause up to 50% underestimation; accurate coil positioning is vital.
- DUTE MRI enables high-quality bone-air segmentation.
- PET images from DUTE MRI-based AC favorably compare to CT-based AC in most brain structures.
Conclusions:
- A DUTE MRI-based AC method was implemented, addressing key challenges.
- This method shows potential for accuracy comparable to segmented CT-based AC.
- The DUTE MRI-based AC method is suitable for quantitative neurologic MR-PET studies.
