PET-CT

A PET-CT head and neck cancer scan showing various image reconstructions. The top left image is the separate CT scan showing the anatomy. The top right scan shows the fused PET and CT scans with false color added to help interpret the image. The bottom left scan is an initial FDG PET image showing tracer hot spots in the neck and a lymph node in the right jaw due to cancer. The right bottom image is a delayed enhancement scan showing tracer uptake over time, with normal hot spots in the bladder, kidneys, testicles and brain, which normally have higher metabolic activity. The low-grade gray shading of the anatomy is due to the normal cellular metabolism uptake of the FDG throughout the body. 

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Human imaging examples of performance of uEXPLORER total-body PET scanner. (A) Axial slice from 18F-fluciclovine PET image (right), with corresponding fused image (middle) and CT image (left), of 68-y-old patient with castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer, demonstrating clear visualization of 18F-flucicovine accumulation within 2.5-mm-diameter pulmonary nodule. (B) Maximum-intensity projection of representative clinical oncology 18F-FDG PET scan reconstructed with 20-, 5-, and 2.5-min durations, of 59-y-old patient with lung cancer. Images show primary tumor in left lower lobe of lung (dashed circle), with multiple variable-sized (0.8-6 cm) hilar, mediastinal, and lower esophageal nodal metastases (arrows) and ~1-cm 18FFDG-avid left adrenal nodule (arrowhead), which is visualized for all scan durations. Image created by Y. Abdelhafez and B.A. Spencer, EXPLORER Molecular Imaging Center, UC Davis, Sacramento, CA

A) Axial CT images through the mouse lungs at 7 and 14 days after intratracheal administration of bleomycin or saline (as a control), demonstrating increased lung fibrosis in the bleomycin group (white arrows). (B) CT attenuation histograms in Hounsfield units (HU) after lung segmentation demonstrate increased attenuation in the lungs in the bleomycin group than the control group (p <0.05), consistent with increasing fibrosis (n=3). (C) Representative axial PET/CT fusion images at 20 and 60 min demonstrating increased FAPI uptake in the lungs of the bleomycin group (white arrows) with no significant uptake in the control group (yellow arrows). (D) Time-activity curve of lung uptake ROI analysis demonstrating higher FAPI uptake in the lungs of the bleomycin group than the control (p < 0.05), 14 days after bleomycin (n=3). (E) Ex vivo biodistribution data of lung tissue demonstrating higher radiotracer uptake in the lungs of the bleomycin group than the control (n=3). *p<0.05, **p<0.01. Image created by CA Ferreira et al., University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI.

(A) 57-year-old woman with right upper arm melanoma who received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) in the left deltoid 15 days prior to FDG PET/CT. FDG uptake is observed within left axillary lymph nodes (arrow, SUVmax = 9.3).

(B) 62-year-old man with metastatic prostate carcinoma who received the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) in the right deltoid 7 days prior to 11C-choline PET/CT. 11C-choline uptake is observed within right axillary lymph nodes (arrows, SUVmax = 3.1) as well as the right deltoid muscle (circle, SUVmax = 1.7).

JNM celebrates 60 years of nuclear medicine research. Image courtesy of Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.