Performance study of a 360° CZT camera for monitoring ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA treatment

The aim of this study was to investigate the quantification performance of a 360° CZT camera for ¹⁷⁷Lu-based treatment monitoring.

Three phantoms with known ¹⁷⁷Lu activity concentrations were acquired: (1) a uniform cylindrical phantom for calibration, (2) a NEMA IEC body phantom for analysis of different-sized spheres to optimise quantification parameters and (3) a phantom containing two large vials simulating organs at risk for tests. Four sets of reconstruction parameters were tested: (1) Scatter, (2) Scatter and Point Spread Function Recovery (PSFR), (3) PSFR only and (4) Penalised likelihood option and Scatter, varying the number of updates (iterations × subsets) with CT-based attenuation correction only. For each, activity concentration (ARC) and contrast recovery coefficients (CRC) were estimated as well as root mean square. Visualisation and quantification parameters were applied to reconstructed patient image data.

Optimised quantification parameters were determined to be: CT-based attenuation correction, scatter correction, 12 iterations, 8 subsets and no filter. ARC, CRC and RMS results were dependant on the methodology used for calculations. Two different reconstruction parameters were recommended for visualisation and for quantification. 3D whole-body SPECT images were acquired and reconstructed for ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA patients in 2-3 times faster than the time taken for a conventional gamma camera.

Quantification of whole-body 3D images of patients treated with ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA is feasible and an optimised set of parameters has been determined. This camera greatly reduces procedure time for whole-body SPECT.