How much CT do we need for PEt/CT? A radiologist's perspective.

In clinical practice different CT imaging protocols are implemented within combined PET/CT acquisition protocols. From a radiologist's perspective the full potential of PET/ CT for oncology imaging can be used only by exploring the full capacity of the CT. This mandates the use of oral and intravenous contrast material as well as a CT image quality which proves diagnostically sufficient by radiology standards. The integration of a fully-diagnostic CT exam portion into combined PET/CT is demanding and requires adjustments of CT acquisition protocols. Given the use of the CT for CT-based attenuation correction potential PET/CT image artifacts have to be considered as well. In this paper we review radiological perspectives on PET/CT imaging.