Strategies for extraction of quantitative data from volumetric dynamic cardiac positron emission tomography data

The ability of positron emission tomography (PET) to serve as a useful myocardial perfusion indicator is well established. We describe a methodology for obtaining reliable quantitative kinetic parameters from dynamic cardiac PET data. Reconstructed images of the myocardium are subdivided into three-dimensional volumes of interest which are used to obtain quantitative measures of myocardial perfusion over physiologically meaningful anatomical regions. The quantitation technique rigorously models the uncertainty of estimated parameters while compensating for effects such as patient motion and partial volumes to arrive at model parameters with well-established confidence intervals.