Aiming for [¹⁸F]FDG-PET acquisition time reduction in clinical practice for neurological patients

Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with [¹⁸F]FDG provides valuable information regarding the underlying pathological processes in neurodegenerative disorders. PET imaging for these populations should be as short as possible to limit head movements and improve comfort. This study aimed to validate an optimized [¹⁸F]FDG-PET image reconstruction protocol aiming to reduce acquisition time while maintaining adequate quantification accuracy and image quality.

A time-reduced reconstruction protocol (5 min) was evaluated in [¹⁸F]FDG-PET retrospective data from healthy individuals and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Standard (8 min) and time-reduced protocols were compared by means of image quality and quantification accuracy metrics, as well as standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) and Z-scores (pons was used as reference). Images were randomly and blindly presented to experienced physicians and scored in terms of image quality.

No differences between protocols were identified during the visual assessment. Small differences (p < 0.01) in the pons SUVR were observed between the standard and time-reduced protocols for healthy individuals (-0.002 ± 0.011) and AD patients (-0.007 ± 0.013). Likewise, incorporating the PSF correction in the reconstruction algorithm resulted in small differences (p < 0.01) in SUVR between protocols (healthy individuals: -0.003 ± 0.011; AD patients: -0.007 ± 0.014).

Quality metrics were similar between time-reduced and standard protocols. In the visual assessment of the images, the physicians did not consider the use of PSF adequate, as it degraded the quality image. Shortening the acquisition time is possible by optimizing the image reconstruction parameters while maintaining adequate quantification accuracy and image quality.