UNLABELLED: We investigated radiation exposure of patients undergoing whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT examinations at 4 hospitals equipped with different tomographs. METHODS: Patient doses were estimated by using established dose coefficients for 18F-FDG and from thermoluminescent measurements performed on an anthropomorphic whole-body phantom. RESULTS: The most relevant difference between the protocols examined was the incorporation of CT as part of the combined PET/CT examination: Separate low-dose CT scans were acquired at 2 hospitals for attenuation correction of emission data in addition to a contrast-enhanced CT scan for diagnostic evaluation, whereas, at the other sites, contrast-enhanced CT scans were used for both purposes. Nevertheless, the effective dose per PET/CT examination was similar, about 25 mSv. CONCLUSION: The dosimetric concepts presented in this study provide a valuable tool for the optimization of whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT protocols. Further reduction of patient exposure can be achieved by modifications to the existing hardware and software of PET/CT systems.
UNLABELLED: We investigated radiation exposure of patients undergoing whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT examinations at 4 hospitals equipped with different tomographs. METHODS:Patient doses were estimated by using established dose coefficients for 18F-FDG and from thermoluminescent measurements performed on an anthropomorphic whole-body phantom. RESULTS: The most relevant difference between the protocols examined was the incorporation of CT as part of the combined PET/CT examination: Separate low-dose CT scans were acquired at 2 hospitals for attenuation correction of emission data in addition to a contrast-enhanced CT scan for diagnostic evaluation, whereas, at the other sites, contrast-enhanced CT scans were used for both purposes. Nevertheless, the effective dose per PET/CT examination was similar, about 25 mSv. CONCLUSION: The dosimetric concepts presented in this study provide a valuable tool for the optimization of whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT protocols. Further reduction of patient exposure can be achieved by modifications to the existing hardware and software of PET/CT systems.
Authors: M Mascalchi; L N Mazzoni; M Falchini; G Belli; G Picozzi; V Merlini; A Vella; S Diciotti; F Falaschi; A Lopes Pegna; E Paci Journal: Br J Radiol Date: 2011-10-05 Impact factor: 3.039
Authors: Marco Spadafora; Leonardo Pace; Laura Evangelista; Luigi Mansi; Francesco Del Prete; Giorgio Saladini; Paolo Miletto; Stefano Fanti; Silvana Del Vecchio; Luca Guerra; Giovanna Pepe; Giuseppina Peluso; Emanuele Nicolai; Giovanni Storto; Marco Ferdeghini; Alessandro Giordano; Mohsen Farsad; Orazio Schillaci; Cesare Gridelli; Alberto Cuocolo Journal: Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging Date: 2018-05-05 Impact factor: 9.236