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Published on: October 27, 2023
Evaluation of synergistic image registration for motion-corrected coronary NaF-PET-MR
Johannes Mayer1, Yining Jin1, Thomas-Heinrich Wurster2,3
1Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig and Berlin, Germany.
Insights
This study combines MRI and PET imaging to improve the accuracy of motion estimation in Sodium Fluoride Positron Emission Tomography (NaF-PET) scans for coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. The synergistic approach enhances NaF-PET image quality by correcting for cardiac and respiratory motion.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Cardiovascular Disease Research
- Image Processing
Background:
- Coronary artery disease (CAD) involves plaque buildup in arteries, impacting cardiovascular health.
- Sodium Fluoride Positron Emission Tomography (NaF-PET) assesses plaque composition for therapy planning.
- Cardiac and respiratory motion significantly degrade NaF-PET diagnostic accuracy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate a synergistic image registration approach for estimating cardiac and respiratory motion.
- To enhance NaF-PET image quality by utilizing motion estimation.
- To evaluate the combined use of MR and NaF-PET for motion correction in CAD patients.
Main Methods:
- Developed a synergistic image registration method combining motion-resolved MR and PET data.
- Estimated cardiac and respiratory motion using the combined MR-PET data.
- Validated the approach through numerical simulations and in vivo scans of CAD patients.
Main Results:
- Numerical simulations demonstrated over 15% improvement in motion estimation accuracy by combining MR and PET data.
- In vivo scans showed improved uptake visualization in NaF-PET images after synergistic registration.
- This study is the first to assess the combined MR and NaF-PET approach for motion estimation.
Conclusions:
- The synergistic MR-PET registration effectively estimates cardiac and respiratory motion.
- This approach has the potential to improve NaF-PET image quality for CAD assessment.
- Further patient studies are needed to fully realize the clinical potential of this technique.
Abstract:
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is caused by the formation of plaques in the coronary arteries and is one of the most common cardiovascular diseases. NaF-PET can be used to assess plaque composition, which could be important for therapy planning. One of the main challenges of NaF-PET is cardiac and respiratory motion which can strongly impair diagnostic accuracy. In this study, we investigated the use of a synergistic image registration approach which combined motion-resolved MR and PET data to estimate cardiac and respiratory motion. This motion estimation could then be used to improve the NaF-PET image quality. The approach was evaluated with numerical simulations and in vivo scans of patients suffering from CAD. In numerical simulations, it was shown, that combining MR and PET information can improve the accuracy of motion estimation by more than 15%. For the in vivo scans, the synergistic image registration led to an improvement in uptake visualization. This is the first study to assess the benefit of combining MR and NaF-PET for cardiac and respiratory motion estimation. Further patient evaluation is required to fully evaluate the potential of this approach. This article is part of the theme issue 'Synergistic tomographic image reconstruction: part 1'.
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