Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 8, 2026

High-Resolution Cardiac Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography for Small Animals
Published on: December 16, 2022
Shifted helical computed tomography to optimize cardiac positron emission tomography-computed tomography
Nils P Johnson1, Tinsu Pan, K Lance Gould
1Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
Abstract:
Positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) uses CT attenuation correction but suffers from misregistration artifacts. However, the quantitative accuracy of helical versus cine CT in the same patient after optimized coregistration by shifting both CT data as needed for each patient is unknown. We studied 293 patients undergoing cardiac perfusion PET-CT using helical CT attenuation correction for comparison to cine CT. Objective, quantitative criteria identified perfusion abnormalities that were associated visually with PET-CT misregistration. Custom software shifted CT data to optimize coregistration with quantitative artifact improvement. The majority (58.1%) of cases with both helical and shifted helical CT data (n = 93) had artifacts that improved or resolved by software shifting helical CT data. Translation of shifted helical CT was greatest in the x-direction (8.8 ± 3.3 mm) and less in the y- and z-directions (approximately 3.5 mm). The magnitude of differences in quantitative end points was greatest for helical (p = .0001, n = 177 studies), less for shifted helical but significant (p = .0001, n = 93 studies), and least for cine (not significant, n = 161 studies) CT compared to optimal attenuation correction for each patient. Frequent artifacts owing to attenuation-emission misregistration are substantially corrected by software shifting helical CT scans to achieve proper coregistration that, however, remains on average significantly inferior to cine CT attenuation quantitatively.
Related Concept Videos
Computed Tomography
The technique was invented in the 1970s and is based on the principle that as X-rays pass through the body, they are absorbed or reflected at different levels. In the technique, a patient lies on a motorized platform while a computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanner rotates...
Imaging Studies for Cardiovascular System V: CT
Imaging Studies III: Computed Tomography
Imaging Studies II: Positron Emission Tomography and Scintigraphy
Fundamental Principles of PET
Radiological Investigation III: Pulmonary Angiogram and PET Scan
Pulmonary Angiogram
A Pulmonary Angiogram is an invasive procedure involving injecting a contrast medium through a catheter threaded into the pulmonary artery or the right side of the heart to visualize the pulmonary vasculature. Computed Tomography (CT) scans have mainly replaced this...
Positron Emission Tomography
One of the main requirements of a PET scan is a positron-emitting radioisotope, which is produced in a cyclotron and then attached to a substance used by the part of the body being...

