Technologist-Based Implementation of Total Metabolic Tumor Volume into Clinical Practice

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Medicine
• Oncology Imaging
• Medical Physics

Background:

• Metabolic tumor volume (MTV) quantifies metabolically active tumor volume on 18F-FDG PET/CT.
• Manual MTV calculation is time-consuming and requires significant user input.
• Streamlining MTV calculation is crucial for clinical integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficiency and accuracy of nuclear medicine technologists in calculating MTV.
• To assess the impact of integrating technologists into a semi-automated workflow for MTV determination.
• To explore the potential of technologists to accelerate MTV implementation in clinical practice.

Main Methods:

• Comparison of MTV calculations between a board-certified nuclear radiologist and two nuclear medicine technologists.
• Technologists received 30 minutes of radiologist-led training.
• Evaluation of MTV calculations in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma undergoing initial staging 18F-FDG PET/CT.

Main Results:

• Nuclear medicine technologists calculated MTV within 7.5% of the radiologist's values.
• The findings suggest favorable accuracy of technologists' calculations.
• Integration into a semi-automated workflow shows potential for improved efficiency.

Conclusions:

• Nuclear medicine technologists can perform accurate MTV calculations after minimal training.
• Technologists may facilitate faster clinical adoption of MTV.
• A potential workflow involves initial calculation by technologists followed by physician validation.