1. Computational approaches to detect small lesions in 18F‐FDG PET/CT scans
- Author
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Christopher J. Palestro, Frank P. DiFilippo, and Kenneth J. Nichols
- Subjects
computer.software_genre ,Imaging phantom ,Medical Imaging ,Image texture ,Voxel ,image analysis ,Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ,Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography ,Medicine ,Humans ,Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging ,Instrumentation ,Retrospective Studies ,Visual impression ,phantom simulations ,Radiation ,business.industry ,Phantoms, Imaging ,Visibility (geometry) ,Visual detection ,18F ,PET ,radiomics ,Positron-Emission Tomography ,oncology ,Fdg pet ct ,Radiopharmaceuticals ,business ,Nuclear medicine ,computer ,Quality assurance - Abstract
Purpose When physicians interpret 18F‐FDG PET/CT scans, they rely on their subjective visual impression of the presence of small lesions, the criteria for which may vary among readers. Our investigation used physical phantom scans to evaluate whether image texture analysis metrics reliably correspond to visual criteria used to identify lesions and accurately differentiate background regions from sub‐centimeter simulated lesions. Methods Routinely collected quality assurance test data were processed retrospectively for 65 different 18F‐FDG PET scans performed of standardized phantoms on eight different PET/CT systems. Phantoms included 8‐, 12‐, 16‐, and 25‐mm diameter cylinders embedded in a cylindrical water bath, prepared with 2.5:1 activity‐to‐background ratio emulating typical whole‐body PET protocols. Voxel values in cylinder regions and background regions were sampled to compute several classes of image metrics. Two experienced physicists, blinded to quantified image metrics and to each other's readings, independently graded cylinder visibility on a 5‐level scale (0 = definitely not visible to 4 = definitely visible). Results The three largest cylinders were visible in 100% of cases with a mean visibility score of 3.3 ± 1.2, while the smallest 8‐mm cylinder was visible in 58% of cases with a significantly lower mean visibility score of 1.5±1.1 (P
- Published
- 2021