A computer simulation study on the effects of input function measurement noise in tracer kinetic modeling with positron emission tomography (PET).

Tracer kinetic modeling with positron emission tomography (PET) requires measurements of the time-activity curves in both plasma (PTAC) and tissue (TTAC) to estimate physiological parameters, i.e. to fit the parameters of certain compartmental models using PTAC and TTAC as the model input and output functions, respectively. However, the estimation usually ignores the measurement noise in plasma tracer activity curves. The accuracy and reliability of the physiological parameters estimated by ignoring such noise are not well understood. In this paper, effects of noise in [18F] 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) tracer plasma concentration measurements on estimation of local cerebral metabolic rates of glucose (LCMRGlc) with PET is investigated systematically. The PTAC modeling approach used in this paper also provides a realistic means to filter out the noise and to improve the physiological parameter accuracy, which can be potentially used in model-based non-invasive measurements of PTAC.