Min Acquisition Time Research Articles

18F]PI-2620 Tau PET signal across the aging and Alzheimer’s disease clinical spectrum

Abstract [18F]PI-2620 is a second generation tracer that has shown high binding affinity for tau aggregation in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, [18F]PI-2620 signal in a large sample spanning the healthy aging and AD clinical spectrum as well as the stability of signal across different acquisition time windows has not yet been examined. Here, amyloid negative (Aβ-) cognitively unimpaired (CU; n = 49), amyloid positive (Aβ+) CU (n = 37), CU individuals with unknown amyloid status (n = 5), mild cognitive impairment (MCI; n = 14), dementia due to AD (n = 19), and non-AD neurodegenerative disorder (n = 54) participants were scanned with [18F]PI-2620 using a 45–75 min and/or 60–90 min acquisition time window. The impact of acquisition time on standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) magnitude was first quantified with linear mixed models, and in participants and regions with high [18F]PI-2620 signal, SUVRs increased linearly up to 0.04 SUVR with each additional 5 min past injection time. We then accounted for differences in acquisition time using a voxel-wise correction approach and showed high correlations (all r’s ≥ 0.986) between SUVRs calculated from 45–75 min data and SUVRs from 60–90 min data that were interpolated to the 45–75 min scale in 15 participants who were scanned across both time windows. Using real and interpolated 45–75 min data, we next examined [18F]PI-2620 signal in Braak regions of interest and an off-target binding region (putamen) in Aβ- and Aβ+ CU, Aβ+ MCI, and Aβ+ AD dementia (n = 115) and showed that SUVRs in all Braak regions increased with greater disease severity. Within CU, higher Braak I SUVR was significantly associated with greater CSF pTau-181 (n = 35), and higher SUVRs were significantly associated with worse memory and language (n = 57). Thus, voxel-wise acquisition time corrections can be applied to combine [18F]PI-2620 datasets collected at different post-injection times, and once acquisition time is accounted for, [18F]PI-2620 signal shows the expected increases across the AD spectrum and can be used for detection of early tau elevations.

Feasibility and optimization of 19F MRI on a clinical 3T with a large field-of-view torso coil

Objective. The objective of this work is to: (1) demonstrate fluorine-19 (19F) MRI on a 3T clinical system with a large field of view (FOV) multi-channel torso coil (2) demonstrate an example parameter selection optimization for a 19F agent to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)-efficiency for spoiled gradient echo (SPGR), balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP), and phase-cycled bSSFP (bSSFP-C), and (3) validate detection feasibility in ex vivo tissues. Approach. Measurements were conducted on a 3.0T Discovery MR750w MRI (GE Healthcare, USA) with an 8-channel 1H/19F torso coil (MRI Tools, Germany). Numerical simulations were conducted for perfluoropolyether to determine the theoretical parameters to maximize SNR-efficiency for the sequences. Theoretical parameters were experimentally verified, and the sensitivity of the sequences was compared with a 10 min acquisition time with a 3.125 × 3.125 × 3 mm3 in-plane resolution. Feasibility of a bSSFP-C was also demonstrated in phantom and ex vivo tissues. Main Results. Flip angles (FAs) of 12 and 64° maximized the signal for SPGR and bSSFP, and validation of optimal FA and receiver bandwidth showed close agreement with numerical simulations. Sensitivities of 2.47, 5.81, and 4.44 ms−0.5mM−1 and empirical detection limits of 20.3, 1.5, and 6.2 mM were achieved for SPGR, bSSFP, and bSSFP-C, respectively. bSSFP and bSSFP-C achieved 1.8-fold greater sensitivity over SPGR (p < 0.01). Significance. bSSFP-C was able to improve sensitivity relative to simple SPGR and reduce both bSSFP banding effects and imaging time. The sequence was used to demonstrate the feasibility of 19F MRI at clinical FOVs and field strengths within ex-vivo tissues.

Phase-sensitive deep reconstruction method for rapid multiparametric MR fingerprinting and quantitative susceptibility mapping in the brain

IntroductionThis study explores the potential of Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF) with a novel Phase-Sensitivity Deep Reconstruction Network (PS-DRONE) for simultaneous quantification of T1, T2, Proton Density, B1+, phase and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM). MethodsData were acquired at 3 T in vitro and in vivo using an optimized EPI-based MRF sequence. Phantom experiments were conducted using a standardized phantom for T1 and T2 maps and a custom-made agar-based gadolinium phantom for B1 and QSM maps. In vivo experiments included five healthy volunteers and one patient diagnosed with brain metastasis. PSDRONE maps were compared to reference maps obtained through standard imaging sequences. ResultsTotal scan time was 2 min for 32 slices and a resolution of [1 mm, 1 mm, 4.5 mm]. The reconstruction of T1, T2, Proton Density, B1+ and phase maps were reconstructed within 1 s. In the phantoms, PS-DRONE analysis presented accurate and strongly correlated T1 and T2 maps (r = 0.99) compared to the reference maps. B1 maps from PS-DRONE showed slightly higher values, though still correlated (r = 0.6) with the reference. QSM values showed a small bias but were strongly correlated (r = 0.99) with reference data. In the in vivo analysis, PS-DRONE-derived T1 and T2 values for gray and white matter matched reference values in healthy volunteers. PS-DRONE B1 and QSM maps showed strong correlations with reference values. ConclusionThe PS-DRONE network enables concurrent acquisition of T1, T2, PD, B1+, phase and QSM maps, within 2 min of acquisition time and 1 s of reconstruction time.

Towards a Precise NMR Quantification of Acute Phase Inflammation Proteins from Human Serum.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectra of human serum and plasma show, besides metabolites and lipoproteins, two characteristic signals termed GlycA and B arising from the acetyl groups of glycoprotein glycans from acute phase proteins, which constitute good markers for inflammatory processes. Here, we report a comprehensive assignment of glycoprotein glycan NMR signals observed in human serum, showing that GlycA and GlycB signals originate from Neu5Ac and GlcNAc moieties from N-glycans, respectively. Diffusion-edited NMR experiments demonstrate that signal components can be associated with specific acute phase proteins. Conventionally determined concentrations of acute phase glycoproteins correlate well with distinct features in NMR spectra (R2 up to 0.9422, p-value <0.001), allowing the simultaneous quantification of several acute phase inflammation proteins. Overall, a proteo-metabolomics NMR signature of significant diagnostic potential is obtained within 10 - 20 min acquisition time. This is exemplified in serum samples from COVID-19 and cardiogenic shock patients showing significant changes in several acute phase proteins compared to healthy controls.

Towards a Precise NMR Quantification of Acute Phase Inflammation Proteins from Human Serum

AbstractNuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectra of human serum and plasma show, besides metabolites and lipoproteins, two characteristic signals termed GlycA and B arising from the acetyl groups of glycoprotein glycans from acute phase proteins, which constitute good markers for inflammatory processes. Here, we report a comprehensive assignment of glycoprotein glycan NMR signals observed in human serum, showing that GlycA and GlycB signals originate from Neu5Ac and GlcNAc moieties from N‐glycans, respectively. Diffusion‐edited NMR experiments demonstrate that signal components can be associated with specific acute phase proteins. Conventionally determined concentrations of acute phase glycoproteins correlate well with distinct features in NMR spectra (R2 up to 0.9422, p‐value &lt;0.001), allowing the simultaneous quantification of several acute phase inflammation proteins. Overall, a proteo‐metabolomics NMR signature of significant diagnostic potential is obtained within 10–20 min acquisition time. This is exemplified in serum samples from COVID‐19 and cardiogenic shock patients showing significant changes in several acute phase proteins compared to healthy controls.

Generation of Conventional 18F-FDG PET Images from 18F-Florbetaben PET Images Using Generative Adversarial Network: A Preliminary Study Using ADNI Dataset.

Background and Objectives: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) (PETFDG) image can visualize neuronal injury of the brain in Alzheimer's disease. Early-phase amyloid PET image is reported to be similar to PETFDG image. This study aimed to generate PETFDG images from 18F-florbetaben PET (PETFBB) images using a generative adversarial network (GAN) and compare the generated PETFDG (PETGE-FDG) with real PETFDG (PETRE-FDG) images using the structural similarity index measure (SSIM) and the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR). Materials and Methods: Using the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database, 110 participants with both PETFDG and PETFBB images at baseline were included. The paired PETFDG and PETFBB images included six and four subset images, respectively. Each subset image had a 5 min acquisition time. These subsets were randomly sampled and divided into 249 paired PETFDG and PETFBB subset images for the training datasets and 95 paired subset images for the validation datasets during the deep-learning process. The deep learning model used in this study is composed of a GAN with a U-Net. The differences in the SSIM and PSNR values between the PETGE-FDG and PETRE-FDG images in the cycleGAN and pix2pix models were evaluated using the independent Student's t-test. Statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Results: The participant demographics (age, sex, or diagnosis) showed no statistically significant differences between the training (82 participants) and validation (28 participants) groups. The mean SSIM between the PETGE-FDG and PETRE-FDG images was 0.768 ± 0.135 for the cycleGAN model and 0.745 ± 0.143 for the pix2pix model. The mean PSNR was 32.4 ± 9.5 and 30.7 ± 8.0. The PETGE-FDG images of the cycleGAN model showed statistically higher mean SSIM than those of the pix2pix model (p < 0.001). The mean PSNR was also higher in the PETGE-FDG images of the cycleGAN model than those of pix2pix model (p < 0.001). Conclusions: We generated PETFDG images from PETFBB images using deep learning. The cycleGAN model generated PETGE-FDG images with a higher SSIM and PSNR values than the pix2pix model. Image-to-image translation using deep learning may be useful for generating PETFDG images. These may provide additional information for the management of Alzheimer's disease without extra image acquisition and the consequent increase in radiation exposure, inconvenience, or expenses.

Image quality assessment along the one metre axial field-of-view of the total-body Biograph Vision Quadra PET/CT system for 18F-FDG

AimRecently, total-body PET/CT systems with an extended axial field-of-view (aFOV) became commercially available which allow acquiring physiologic information of multiple organs simultaneously. However, the nominal aFOV may clinically not be used effectively due to the inherently reduced sensitivity at the distal ends of the aFOV. The aim of this study was to assess the extent of the useful aFOV of the Biograph Vision Quadra PET/CT system.MethodsA NEMA image quality (IQ) phantom mimicking a standard [18F]FDG examination was used. Image contrast and noise were assessed across the 106 cm aFOV of the Biograph Vision Quadra PET/CT system (Siemens Healthineers). Phantom acquisitions were performed at different axial positions. PET data were rebinned to simulate different acquisition times for a standard injected activity and reconstructed using different filter settings to evaluate the noise and images along the axial direction.ResultsImage noise and contrast were stable within the central 80 cm of the aFOV. Outside this central area, image contrast variability as well as image noise increased. This degradation of IQ was in particular evident for short acquisition times of less than 30 s. At 10 min acquisition time and in the absence of post-reconstruction filtering, the useful aFOV was 100 cm. For a 2 min acquisition time, a useful aFOV with image noise below 15% was only achievable using Gaussian filtering with axial extents of between 83 and 103 cm when going from 2 to 6 mm full-width-half-maximum, respectively.ConclusionImage noise increases substantially towards the ends of the aFOV. However, good IQ in compliance with generally accepted benchmarks is achievable for an aFOV of > 90 cm. When accepting higher image noise or using dedicated protocol settings such as stronger filtering a useful aFOV of around 1 m can be achieved for a 2 min acquisition time.

Minimum detectable activity concentration of radio-cesium by a LaBr3(Ce) detector for in situ measurements on the ground-surface and in boreholes

A 3.81 × 3.81 cm LaBr3(Ce) detector based portable measurement setup has been developed for in situ gamma spectrometric survey of a contaminated site. This system is suitable for above- and below ground surface gamma spectrometric measurements of 137Cs. However, the minimum detectable activity concentration (MDAC), an important parameter of a measurement system, should be estimated for planning purposes of the gamma spectrometric survey. In this study, the MDAC of 137Cs for the measurement setup was investigated. The efficiency of the measurement setups was calculated from Monte Carlo simulations using MCNP code. The numerical model of the different studied set-ups, used in MCNP, performed well for the known cases. The results show that the MDAC varies with the position of the detector with respect to ground surface. A 5–20 min acquisition time, depending on the detector position, can be sufficient to get a MDAC of about 10% of the exemption limit of 137Cs (100 Bq/kg).

MR-assisted PET respiratory motion correction using deep-learning based short-scan motion fields.

We evaluated the impact of PET respiratory motion correction (MoCo) in a phantom and patients. Moreover, we proposed and examined a PET MoCo approach using motion vector fields (MVFs) from a deep-learning reconstructed short MRI scan. The evaluation of PET MoCo was performed in a respiratory motion phantom study with varying lesion sizes and tumor to background ratios (TBRs) using a static scan as the ground truth. MRI-based MVFs were derived from either 2000 spokes (MoCo2000 , 5-6 min acquisition time) using a Fourier transform reconstruction or 200 spokes (MoCoP2P200 , 30-40 s acquisition time) using a deep-learning Phase2Phase (P2P) reconstruction and then incorporated into PET MoCo reconstruction. For six patients with hepatic lesions, the performance of PET MoCo was evaluated using quantitative metrics (SUVmax , SUVpeak , SUVmean , lesion volume) and a blinded radiological review on lesion conspicuity. MRI-assisted PET MoCo methods provided similar results to static scans across most lesions with varying TBRs in the phantom. Both MoCo2000 and MoCoP2P200 PET images had significantly higher SUVmax , SUVpeak , SUVmean and significantly lower lesion volume than non-motion-corrected (non-MoCo) PET images. There was no statistical difference between MoCo2000 and MoCoP2P200 PET images for SUVmax , SUVpeak , SUVmean or lesion volume. Both radiological reviewers found that MoCo2000 and MoCoP2P200 PET significantly improved lesion conspicuity. An MRI-assisted PET MoCo method was evaluated using the ground truth in a phantom study. In patients with hepatic lesions, PET MoCo images improved quantitative and qualitative metrics based on only 30-40 s of MRI motion modeling data.

Unsupervised arterial spin labeling image superresolution via multiscale generative adversarial network.

Arterial spin labeling (ASL) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an advanced noninvasive imaging technology that can measure cerebral blood flow (CBF) quantitatively without a contrast agent injection or radiation exposure. However, because of the weak labeling, conventional ASL images usually suffer from low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), poor spatial resolution, and long acquisition time. Therefore, a method that can simultaneously improve the spatial resolution and SNR isneeded. In this work, we proposed an unsupervised superresolution (SR) method to improve ASL image resolution based on a pyramid of generative adversarial networks (GAN). Through layer-by-layer training, the generators can learn features from the coarsest to the finest. The last layer's generator that contains fine details and textures was used to generate the final SR ASL images. In our proposed framework, the corresponding T1-weighted MR image was supplied as a second-channel input of the generators to provide high-resolution prior information. In addition, a low-pass-filter loss term was included to suppress the noise of the original ASL images. To evaluate the performance of the proposed framework, a simulation study and two real-patient experiments based on the in vivo datasets obtained from three healthy subjects on a 3T MR scanner were conducted, regarding the low-resolution (LR) to normal-resolution (NR) and the NR-to-SR tasks. The proposed method was compared to the nearest neighbor interpolation, trilinear interpolation, third-order B-splines interpolation methods, and deep image prior (DIP) with the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity index (SSIM) as the quantification metrics. The averaged ASL images acquired with 44 min acquisition time were used as the ground truth for real-patient LR-to-NR study. The ablation studies of low-pass-filter loss term and T1-weighted MR image were performed based on simulation data. For the simulation study, results show that the proposed method achieved significantly higher PSNR ( -value 0.05) and SSIM ( -value 0.05) than the nearest neighbor interpolation, trilinear interpolation, third-order B-splines interpolation, and DIP methods. For the real-patient LR-to-NR experiment, results show that the proposed method can generate high-quality SR ASL images with clearer structure boundaries and low noise levels and has the highest mean PSNR and SSIM. For real-patient NR-to-SR tasks, the structure of the results using the proposed method is sharper and clearer, which are the most similar to the structure of the reference 44 min acquisition image than other methods. The proposed method also shows the ability to remove artifacts in the NR image while superresolution. The ablation study verified that the low-pass-filter loss term and T1-weighted MR image are necessary for the proposedmethod. The proposed unsupervised multiscale GAN framework can simultaneously improve spatial resolution and reduce image noise. Experiment results from simulation data and three healthy subjects show that the proposed method achieves better performance than the nearest neighbor interpolation, the trilinear interpolation, the third-order B-splines interpolation, and DIP methods.

Optimal activity of [18F]FDG for Hodgkin lymphoma imaging performed on PET/CT camera with BGO crystals.

We aimed to find the minimum feasible activity of fluorodeoxyglucose ([18F]FDG) in positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) of Hodgkin lymphoma patients performed on a camera with bismuth germanate (BGO) crystals. Ninety-one [18F]FDG PET/CT scans (each in seven Bayesian Penalized Likelihood [BPL] reconstructions with varying acquisition time per bed position - 2 min, 1.5 min, 1 min, 50 s, 40 s, 30 s, and 20 s) were independently assessed by three physicians to evaluate image quality. Mean administered activity was 3.0 ± 0.1 MBq/kg and mean uptake time was 54.0 ± 8.7 min. The series quality was subjectively marked on a 1-10 scale and then ranked 1-7 based on the mean mark. Interobserver rank correlation and intraclass correlation within each series for the three observers were calculated. Phantom studies were also performed to determine if reduced acquisition time can be directly translated into a reduced activity. Time series were marked and ranked unanimously - the longer the time of acquisition the higher the mark and rank. The interobserver agreement in the ranking was excellent (100%) with a kappa coefficient of 1.00 (95% CI [0.83-1.0]). The general intraclass correlation coefficient (agreement between the marks observers gave each time series) was very high (0.945, 95% CI [0.936-0.952]) and was higher the shorter the time per bed. According to all three observers only the series with 2 min and 1.5 min acquisition time were appropriate for assessment (mean mark ≥ 7). In phantom studies there was a linear correlation between time per bed, administered activity, and number of total prompts detected by a scanner. Hence, a reduction of acquisition time of 25% (from 2 min to 1.5 min) could be directly translated into a 25% activity reduction (from 3.0 to 2.25 MBq/kg). In patients with HL, [18F]FDG activity can be reduced by up to 25% when using a BGO crystal camera, without substantial impact on image quality.

Monte Carlo simulation of the acquisition conditions for 177Lu molecular imaging of hepatic tumors.

To examine the impact of acquisition time on Lutetium-177 (177Lu) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images using Monte Carlo simulation. A gamma camera simulation based on the Monte Carlo method was performed to produce SPECT images. The phantom was modeled on a NEMA IEC BODY phantom including six spheres as tumors. After the administration of 7.4GBq of 177Lu, radioactivity concentrations of the tumor/liver at 6, 24, and 72h after administration were set to 1.85/0.201, 2.12/0.156, and 1.95/0.117MBq/mL, respectively. In addition, the radioactivity concentrations of the tumor at 72h after administration varied by 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8 when comparison was made. Acquisition times examined were 1.2, 1.5, 2, 3, 6, and 12min. To assess the impact of collimators, SPECT data acquired at 72h after the administration using six collimators of low-energy high-resolution (LEHR), extended low-energy general-purpose (ELEGP), medium-energy, and general-purpose (MEGP-1, MEGP-2, and MEGP-3) and high-energy general-purpose (HEGP) were examined. After prefiltering using a Butterworth filter, projection images were reconstructed using ordered subset expectation maximization. The detected photons were classified into direct rays, scattered rays, penetrating rays, and characteristic X-rays from lead. The image quality was evaluated through visual assessment, and physical assessment of contrast recovery coefficient (CRC) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). In this study, the CNR threshold for detectability was assumed to be 5.0. To compare collimators, the highest sensitivity was observed with ELEGP, followed by LEHR and MEGP-1. The highest ratio of direct ray was also observed in ELEGP followed by MEGP-1. In comparison of the radioactivity concentration ratios of tumor/liver, CRC and CNR were significantly decreased with smaller radioactivity concentration ratios. This effect was greater with larger spheres. According to the visual assessment, the acquisition time of 6, 6, and 3min or longer was required using ELEGP collimator at 6, 24, and 72h after administration, respectively. Physical assessment based on CNR and CRC also suggested that 6, 6, and 3min or longer acquisition time was necessary at 6, 24, and 72h after administration. 177Lu-SPECT images generated via the Monte Carlo simulation suggested that the recommended acquisition time was 6min or longer at 6 and 24h and 3min or longer at 72h after administration.

Clinical Validation of a 3-Dimensional Ultrafast Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Protocol Including Single Breath-Hold 3-Dimensional Sequences

ObjectivesThis study sought to clinically validate a novel 3-dimensional (3D) ultrafast cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) protocol including cine (anatomy and function) and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), each in a single breath-hold. BackgroundCMR is the reference tool for cardiac imaging but is time-consuming. MethodsA protocol comprising isotropic 3D cine (Enhanced sensitivity encoding [SENSE] by Static Outer volume Subtraction [ESSOS]) and isotropic 3D LGE sequences was compared with a standard cine+LGE protocol in a prospective study of 107 patients (age 58 ± 11 years; 24% female). Left ventricular (LV) mass, volumes, and LV and right ventricular (RV) ejection fraction (LVEF, RVEF) were assessed by 3D ESSOS and 2D cine CMR. LGE (% LV) was assessed using 3D and 2D sequences. ResultsThree-dimensional and LGE acquisitions lasted 24 and 22 s, respectively. Three-dimensional and LGE images were of good quality and allowed quantification in all cases. Mean LVEF by 3D and 2D CMR were 51 ± 12% and 52 ± 12%, respectively, with excellent intermethod agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]: 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.94 to 0.97) and insignificant bias. Mean RVEF 3D and 2D CMR were 60.4 ± 5.4% and 59.7 ± 5.2%, respectively, with acceptable intermethod agreement (ICC: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.63 to 0.81) and insignificant bias. Both 2D and 3D LGE showed excellent agreement, and intraobserver and interobserver agreement were excellent for 3D LGE. ConclusionsESSOS single breath-hold 3D CMR allows accurate assessment of heart anatomy and function. Combining ESSOS with 3D LGE allows complete cardiac examination in <1 min of acquisition time. This protocol expands the indication for CMR, reduces costs, and increases patient comfort.

18F]F13640, a 5-HT1A Receptor Radiopharmaceutical Sensitive to Brain Serotonin Fluctuations.

IntroductionSerotonin is involved in a variety of physiological functions and brain disorders. In this context, efforts have been made to investigate the in vivo fluctuations of this neurotransmitter using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging paradigms. Since serotonin is a full agonist, it binds preferentially to G-protein coupled receptors. In contrast, antagonist PET ligands additionally interact with uncoupled receptors. This could explain the lack of sensitivity to serotonin fluctuations of current 5-HT1A radiopharmaceuticals which are mainly antagonists and suggests that agonist radiotracers would be more appropriate to measure changes in neurotransmitter release. The present study evaluated the sensitivity to endogenous serotonin release of a recently developed, selective 5-HT1A receptor PET radiopharmaceutical, the agonist [18F]F13640 (a.k.a. befiradol or NLX-112).Materials and MethodsFour cats each underwent three PET scans with [18F]F13640, i.e., a control PET scan of 90 min, a PET scan preceded 30 min before by an intravenous injection 1 mg/kg of d-fenfluramine, a serotonin releaser (blocking challenge), and a PET scan comprising the intravenous injection of 1 mg/kg of d-fenfluramine 30 min after the radiotracer injection (displacement challenge). Data were analyzed with regions of interest and voxel-based approaches. A lp-ntPET model approach was implemented to determine the dynamic of serotonin release during the challenge study.ResultsD-fenfluramine pretreatment elicited a massive inhibition of [18F]F13640 labeling in regions known to express 5-HT1A receptors, e.g., raphe nuclei, hippocampus, thalamus, anterior cingulate cortex, caudate putamen, occipital, frontal and parietal cortices, and gray matter of cerebellum. Administration of d-fenfluramine during PET acquisition indicates changes in occupancy from 10% (thalamus) to 31% (gray matter of cerebellum) even though the dissociation rate of [18F]F13640 over the 90 min acquisition time was modest. The lp-ntPET simulation succeeded in differentiating the control and challenge conditions.ConclusionThe present findings demonstrate that labeling of 5-HT1A receptors with [18F]F13640 is sensitive to serotonin concentration fluctuations in vivo. Although the data underline the need to perform longer PET scan to ensure accurate measure of displacement, they support clinical development of [18F]F13640 as a tool to explore experimental paradigms involving physiological or pathological (neurological or neuropsychiatric pathologies) fluctuations of extracellular serotonin.

Robustness of Brain Structural Networks Is Affected in Cognitively Impaired MS Patients.

The robustness of brain structural networks, estimated from diffusion MRI data, may be relevant to cognition. We investigate whether measures of network robustness, such as Ollivier-Ricci curvature, can explain cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS). We assessed whether local (i.e., cortical area) and/or global (i.e., whole brain) robustness, differs between cognitively impaired (MSCI) and non-impaired (MSNI) MS patients. Fifty patients, with Expanded Disability Status Scale mean (m): 3.2, disease duration m: 12 years, and age m: 40 years, were enrolled. Cognitive impairment scores were estimated from the Minimal Assessment of Cognitive Function in Multiple Sclerosis. Images were obtained in a 3T MRI using a diffusion protocol with a 2 min acquisition time. Brain structural networks were created using 333 cortical areas. Local and global robustness was estimated for each individual, and comparisons were performed between MSCI and MSNI patients. 31 MSCI and 10 MSNI patients were included in the analyses. Brain structural network robustness and centrality showed significant correlations with cognitive impairment. Measures of network robustness and centrality identified specific cortical areas relevant to MS-related cognitive impairment. These measures can be obtained on clinical scanners and are succinct yet accurate potential biomarkers of cognitive impairment.

Assessing spatial resolution, acquisition time and signal-to-noise ratio for commercial microimaging systems at 14.1, 17.6 and 22.3 T

This work provides a systematic comparison of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), spatial resolution, acquisition time and metabolite limits-of-detection for magnetic resonance microscopy and spectroscopy at three different magnetic field strengths of 14.1 T, 17.6 T and 22.3 T (the highest currently available for imaging), utilizing commercially available hardware. We find an SNR increase of a factor 5.9 going from 14.1 T to 22.3 T using 5 mm radiofrequency (saddle and birdcage) coils, which results in a 24-fold acceleration in acquisition time and deviates from the theoretically expected increase of factor 2.2 due to differences in hardware. This underlines the importance of not only the magnetic field strengths but also hardware optimization. In addition, using a home-built 1.5 mm solenoid coil, we can achieve an isotropic resolution of (5.5 µm)3 over a field-of-view of 1.58 mm × 1.05 mm × 1.05 mm with an SNR of 12:1 using 44 signal averages in 58 h 34 min acquisition time at 22.3 T. In light of these results, we discuss future perspectives for ultra-high field Magnetic Resonance Microscopy and Spectroscopy.

Brain-Blood Partition Coefficient and Cerebral Blood Flow in Canines Using Calibrated Short TR Recovery (CaSTRR) Correction Method.

The brain–blood partition coefficient (BBPC) is necessary for quantifying cerebral blood flow (CBF) when using tracer based techniques like arterial spin labeling (ASL). A recent improvement to traditional MRI measurements of BBPC, called calibrated short TR recovery (CaSTRR), has demonstrated a significant reduction in acquisition time for BBPC maps in mice. In this study CaSTRR is applied to a cohort of healthy canines (n = 17, age = 5.0 – 8.0 years) using a protocol suited for application in humans at 3T. The imaging protocol included CaSTRR for BBPC maps, pseudo-continuous ASL for CBF maps, and high resolution anatomical images. The standard CaSTRR method of normalizing BBPC to gadolinium-doped deuterium oxide phantoms was also compared to normalization using hematocrit (Hct) as a proxy value for blood water content. The results show that CaSTRR is able to produce high quality BBPC maps with a 4 min acquisition time. The BBPC maps demonstrate significantly higher BBPC in gray matter (0.83 ± 0.05 mL/g) than in white matter (0.78 ± 0.04 mL/g, p = 0.006). Maps of CBF acquired with pCASL demonstrate a negative correlation between gray matter perfusion and age (p = 0.003). Voxel-wise correction for BBPC is also shown to improve contrast to noise ratio between gray and white matter in CBF maps. A novel aspect of the study was to show that that BBPC measurements can be calculated based on the known Hct of the blood sample placed in scanner. We found a strong correlation (R2 = 0.81 in gray matter, R2 = 0.59 in white matter) established between BBPC maps normalized to the doped phantoms and BBPC maps normalized using Hct. This obviates the need for doped water phantoms which simplifies both the acquisition protocol and the post-processing methods. Together this suggests that CaSTRR represents a feasible, rapid method to account for BBPC variability when quantifying CBF. As canines have been used widely for aging and Alzheimer’s disease studies, the CaSTRR method established in the animals may further improve CBF measurements and advance our understanding of cerebrovascular changes in aging and neurodegeneration.

Depth-of-interaction study of a dual-readout detector based on TOFPET2 application-specific integrated circuit

Depth-of-interaction (DOI) capability is important for achieving high spatial resolution and sensitivity in dedicated organ and small animal positron emission tomography (PET) scanners. The dual-ended readout is one of the common methods that can achieve good DOI resolution. The aim of this study is to evaluate a dual-ended readout detector based on silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) and TOFPET2 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The detector is based on 4 4 lutetium–yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO) units, each unit contained 6 6 LYSO crystals, and the crystal size was 1 1 20 mm3. The four lateral surfaces of LYSO crystals were mechanically ground to W14 (surface roughness 10–14 m), and the two ended surfaces were polished (surface roughness <0.5 m). The reflector was Toray Lumirror E60, and the packing fraction of the LYSO block was 86.5%. Each LYSO unit was read out from both ends with two Hamamatsu S13361-3050AE-08 SiPM arrays. The analog output signals of SiPM were digitized by PETsys TOFPET2 ASIC and acquired by PETsys SiPM Readout System. The ASIC and SiPM were cooled by a fan and a Peltier element. To investigate the crystal resolvability, different light guide thicknesses including 0.8, 1, 1.2 and 2 mm were tested. The light guide was made of optical glass (H-K9L-Foctek Photoincs), and the size and refractive index were 6.45 6.45 mm2 and 1.53 (at 420 nm), respectively. To characterize the detector performance at different depths, another 1 25.8 20 mm3 single LYSO slab was used. Data were acquired at 10 depths (1, 3, …, 19 mm), and each depth had a 10 min acquisition time and about 40 thousand coincidence events. During the experiment, the SiPM temperature was controlled as 27.6 0.4 °C. The results showed that the 1.2 mm light guide offered the best crystal resolvability. The energy, coincidence time, and DOI resolution full-width at half-maximum of the detector were characterized as 15.66% 0.66%, 602.98 10.58 ps, and 2.33 0.07 mm, respectively. The good DOI resolution indicates the potential of utilizing the detector for high-resolution PET applications.

Possibility analysis of bremsstrahlung x-ray imaging of C-14 radionuclide using a LaGPS radiation imaging system

The in-vivo imaging of C-14 is thought to be impossible because it is a pure beta-emitting radionuclide and the energy of beta particles is low. However, beta particles emit bremsstrahlung x-rays in subjects that may be imaged from the outside subjects. Thus, we imaged bremsstrahlung x-rays from a C-14 solution using a high resolution Ce-doped (Gd, La)2Si2O7 (LaGPS) radiation imaging system. With a LaGPS radiation imaging system, we conducted bremsstrahlung x-ray imaging from a C-14 solution in a plastic container with 37 MBq radioactivity with and without a parallel hole collimator. Without it, images were obtained with a spatial resolution of ∼1 mm FWHM in less than 1 min of acquisition time. The energy spectrum of the bremsstrahlung x-rays from a C-14 solution showed a broad distribution with an average energy of ∼30 keV. With a parallel hole collimator, images of the C-14 solutions were also possible although the detected counts decreased to 2.4% of those without a collimator. The measured sensitivities of the LaGPS imaging system without and with a collimator for bremsstrahlung x-rays from C-14 solutions in a plastic container were 3.5 × 10−5 and 8.5 × 10−7, respectively. We conclude that the imaging of bremsstrahlung x-rays from C-14 might be a new method for the in-vivo distribution imaging of small animals or plants.

40 Optimization of patient activity injected for thyroid scintigraphy in order to approach diagnostic reference level

Introduction The aim of 99mTc thyroid scintigraphy using pinhole collimator is to differentiate thyroid nodules (hot/cold). The diagnostic reference level is 80 MBq [1] , which is 87% lower than the activity currently injected in clinical conditions. Following a statistical study on 50 patients, including 45 with euthyroidism, the current examination conditions were determined: 149 MBq ± 7.6 MBq injected activity, for a 10 ± 6 min waiting time after injection, at 7 ± 2 min acquisition time, and a total number of events of 127 ± 53 kcps. The objective is, through phantom experiments and in agreement with national recommendations, to lower the injected activity for a similar acquisition time while keeping a sufficient image quality. Methods A thyroid phantom with cold and hot nodules was used on Siemens Symbia S SPECT which have crystals 3/8 in. thick. Reference acquisition parameters for these experiments are: 128 × 128 matrix, zoom 2, stop at 250 Kcps on the detector, with a 4 mm aperture diameter ( d o ) pinhole collimator. Results Considering identical number of events detected, a 54% acquisition time reduction with do = 6 mm and 73% with do = 8 mm was observed. Contrast decreased by 9.6% (do = 6 mm) and 24% (do = 8 mm) for the cold nodule, 21% (do = 6 mm) and 34% (do = 8 mm) for the hot nodule. On the images, the nodules are more visible with do = 4 mm (Fig. 1.a) than for do = 6 mm (1.b) or do = 8 mm (1.c). This loss in spatial resolution can be partially compensated by using a 128 × 128 matrix to 256 × 256 one (1.d, do = 4 mm), without inducing additional time. Download : Download high-res image (92KB) Download : Download full-size image Conclusions Using 6 mm aperture for pinhole instead of 4 mm aperture initially used, enables to have an increase in signal and thus a significantly reduced acquisition time. The matrix modification in 256 × 256 helps to improve the spatial resolution. With these results and recommendations [2] , we have defined a new acquisition protocol: at least 20 min waiting time after injection (99mTc fixation time in the thyroid [3] ), using a 256 × 256 matrix, a zoom 2 and a 6 mm aperture pinhole. The acquisition is set at 130 kcps. A prospective study on 50 patients with 110 MBq injected activity would validate new protocol efficiency.