Abstract
The application of absolute quantification in SPECT/CT has seen increased interest in the context of radionuclide therapies where patient-specific dosimetry is a requirement within the European Union (EU) legislation. However, the translation of this technique to diagnostic nuclear medicine outside this setting is rather slow. Clinical research has, in some examples, already shown an association between imaging metrics and clinical diagnosis, but the applications, in general, lack proper validation because of the absence of a ground truth measurement. Meanwhile, additive manufacturing or 3D printing has seen rapid improvements, increasing its uptake in medical imaging. Three-dimensional printed phantoms have already made a significant impact on quantitative imaging, a trend that is likely to increase in the future. In this review, we summarize the data of recent literature to underpin our premise that the validation of diagnostic applications in nuclear medicine using application-specific phantoms is within reach given the current state-of-the-art in additive manufacturing or 3D printing.
Highlights
From the moment radioactivity was discovered by Henri Becquerel in 1896, there was an immediate interest in quantification arising from the need to study this phenomenon
Several examples have been discussed for the possible application of absolute quantification in SPECT/CT
The establishment of absolute quantification in clinical practice depends on validation of the accuracy and reliability, and applicationspecific validation can benefit from anthropomorphic phantoms tailored to the application
Summary
From the moment radioactivity was discovered by Henri Becquerel in 1896, there was an immediate interest in quantification arising from the need to study this phenomenon. The past two decades have seen the continuous improvement of SPECT/CT as a molecular imaging modality to a point where it can produce accurate quantitative images [1,2,3]. To its use in the therapeutic setting, accurate quantification of tracer uptake could become highly relevant, providing diagnostic information beyond just the absence or presence of disease. Relative quantification and comparisons against a database have dominated quantitative applications of SPECT/CT in diagnostic studies. While the quantitative capability of SPECT/CT as a modality is without doubt and several potential applications have already been suggested at the beginning of the previous decade [18], there is still limited use in clinical practice
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