Performance Evaluation of Siemens CTI ECAT EXACT 47 Scanner Using NEMA NU2-2001

Kim, Jin Su; Lee, Jae Sung; Lee, Dong Soo; Chung, June Key; Lee, Myung Chul

Abstract

PURPOSE
NEMA NU2-2001 was proposed as a new standard for performance evaluation of whole body PET scanners. In this study, system performance of Siemens CTI ECAT EXACT 47 PET scanner including spatial resolution, sensitivity, scatter fraction, and count rate performance in 2D and 3D mode was evaluated using this new standard method. METHODS: ECAT EXACT 47 is a BGO crystal based PET scanner and covers an axial field of view (FOV) of 16.2 cm. Retractable septa allow 2D and 3D data acquisition. All the PET data were acquired according to the NEMA NU2-2001 protocols (coincidence window: 12 ns, energy window: 250 ~ 650 keV). For the spatial resolution measurement, F-18 point source was placed at the center of the axial FOV ( (a) x=0, and y=1, (b) x=0, and y=10, (c) x=10, and y=0cm) and a position one fourth of the axial FOV from the center ( (a) x=0, and y=1, (b) x=0, and y=10, (c) x=10, and y=0cm). In this case, x and y are transaxial horizontal and vertical, and z is the scanner's axial direction. Images were reconstructed using FBP with ramp filter without any post-processing. To measure the system sensitivity, NEMA sensitivity phantom filled with F-18 solution and surrounded by 1~5 aluminum sleeves were scanned at the center of transaxial FOV and 10 cm offset from the center. Attenuation free values of sensitivity were estimated by extrapolating data to the zero wall thickness. NEMA scatter phantom with length of 70 cm was filled with F-18 or C-11solution (2D: 2, 900 MBq, 3D: 407 MBq), and coincidence count rates were measured for 7 half-lives to obtain noise equivalent count rate (NECR) and scatter fraction. We confirmed that dead time loss of the last frame were below 1%. Scatter fraction was estimated by averaging the true to background (scatter + random) ratios of last 3 frames in which the fractions of random rate are negligibly small. RESULTS: Axial and transverse resolutions at 1cm offset from the center were 0.62 and 0.66 cm (FBP in 2D and 3D), and 0.67 and 0.69 cm (FBP in 2D and 3D). Axial, transverse radial, and transverse tangential resolutions at 10cm offset from the center were 0.72 and 0.68 cm (FBP in 2D and 3D), 0.63 and 0.66 cm (FBP in 2D and 3D), and 0.72 and 0.66 cm (FBP in 2D and 3D). Sensitivity values were 708.6 (2D), 2931.3 (3D) counts/sec/MBq at the center and 728.7 (2D), 3398.2 (3D) counts/sec/MBq at 10 cm offset from the center. Scatter fractions were 0.19 (2D) and 0.49 (3D). Peak true count rate and NECR were 64.0 kcps at 40.1 kBq/mL and 49.6 kcps at 40.1 kBq/mL in 2D and 53.7 kcps at 4.76 kBq/mL and 26.4 kcps at 4.47 kBq/mL in 3D. CONCLUSION: Information about the performance of CTI ECAT EXACT 47 PET scanner reported in this study will be useful for the quantitative analysis of data and determination of optimal image acquisition protocols using this widely used scanner for clinical and research purposes.