Dynamic Human Brain Imaging with a Portable PET Camera: Comparison to a Standard Scanner

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Medicine
• Neuroimaging
• Medical Device Technology

Background:

• Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a powerful neuroimaging tool, but its widespread application is limited by the cost and portability of standard scanners.
• Portable, cost-effective PET cameras could significantly expand the use of PET for brain imaging and metabolic studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To perform a within-participant comparison of quantitative [18F]FDG dynamic PET scans between a portable CerePET scanner and a standard Biograph mCT scanner.
• To evaluate the correlation and agreement of key quantitative outcome measures, including Standardized Uptake Value (SUV), net influx rate (Ki), and cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMRglu).

Main Methods:

• Twenty healthy volunteers underwent dynamic [18F]FDG PET imaging using both the portable CerePET and the standard Biograph mCT scanners.
• Concurrent arterial blood sampling was performed for tracer kinetic modeling.
• Regional and voxel-level quantification of SUV, Ki, and CMRglu were performed for both scanners.

Main Results:

• Strong correlations (Pearson's r ≈ 0.83-0.85) and agreement (regression slopes ≈ 0.84-0.85) were observed for SUV, Ki, and CMRglu in neocortical regions.
• Subcortical regions showed even higher correlations (Pearson's r ≈ 0.97) and good agreement in regression slopes (≈ 0.79-0.86) with less variability.
• Voxelwise assessment revealed minimal significant differences between scanners, primarily in a small cluster of left frontal white matter.

Conclusions:

• The portable CerePET scanner demonstrates robust correlation and agreement with the standard Biograph mCT scanner for quantitative brain glucose metabolism measurements.
• These findings support the feasibility of using portable PET scanners for flexible and accessible brain imaging.
• Further follow-up studies are warranted, but initial results are promising for expanding PET applications.