TY - JOUR

T1 - Fully Automated, Fast Motion Correction of Dynamic Whole-Body and Total-Body PET/CT Imaging Studies

AU - Sundar, Lalith Kumar Shiyam

AU - Lassen, Martin Lyngby

AU - Gutschmayer, Sebastian

AU - Ferrara, Daria

AU - Calabrò, Anna

AU - Yu, Josef

AU - Kluge, Kilian

AU - Wang, Yiran

AU - Nardo, Lorenzo

AU - Hasbak, Philip

AU - Kjaer, Andreas

AU - Abdelhafez, Yasser G.

AU - Wang, Guobao

AU - Cherry, Simon R.

AU - Spencer, Benjamin A.

AU - Badawi, Ramsey D.

AU - Beyer, Thomas

AU - Muzik, Otto

N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2023 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - We introduce the Fast Algorithm for Motion Correction (FALCON) software, which allows correction of both rigid and nonlinear motion artifacts in dynamic whole-body (WB) images, irrespective of the PET/CT system or the tracer. Methods: Motion was corrected using affine alignment followed by a diffeomorphic approach to account for nonrigid deformations. In both steps, images were registered using multiscale image alignment. Moreover, the frames suited to successful motion correction were automatically estimated by calculating the initial normalized cross-correlation metric between the reference frame and the other moving frames. To evaluate motion correction performance, WB dynamic image sequences from 3 different PET/CT systems (Biograph mCT, Biograph Vision 600, and uEXPLORER) using 6 different tracers (18F-FDG, 18F-fluciclovine, 68Ga-PSMA, 68Ga-DOTA-TATE, 11C-Pittsburgh compound B, and 82Rb) were considered. Motion correction accuracy was assessed using 4 different measures: change in volume mismatch between individual WB image volumes to assess gross body motion, change in displacement of a large organ (liver dome) within the torso due to respiration, change in intensity in small tumor nodules due to motion blur, and constancy of activity concentration levels. Results: Motion correction decreased gross body motion artifacts and reduced volume mismatch across dynamic frames by about 50%. Moreover, large-organ motion correction was assessed on the basis of correction of liver dome motion, which was removed entirely in about 70% of all cases. Motion correction also improved tumor intensity, resulting in an average increase in tumor SUVs by 15%. Large deformations seen in gated cardiac 82Rb images were managed without leading to anomalous distortions or substantial intensity changes in the resulting images. Finally, the constancy of activity concentration levels was reasonably preserved (,2% change) in large organs before and after motion correction. Conclusion: FALCON allows fast and accurate correction of rigid and nonrigid WB motion artifacts while being insensitive to scanner hardware or tracer distribution, making it applicable to a wide range of PET imaging scenarios.

AB - We introduce the Fast Algorithm for Motion Correction (FALCON) software, which allows correction of both rigid and nonlinear motion artifacts in dynamic whole-body (WB) images, irrespective of the PET/CT system or the tracer. Methods: Motion was corrected using affine alignment followed by a diffeomorphic approach to account for nonrigid deformations. In both steps, images were registered using multiscale image alignment. Moreover, the frames suited to successful motion correction were automatically estimated by calculating the initial normalized cross-correlation metric between the reference frame and the other moving frames. To evaluate motion correction performance, WB dynamic image sequences from 3 different PET/CT systems (Biograph mCT, Biograph Vision 600, and uEXPLORER) using 6 different tracers (18F-FDG, 18F-fluciclovine, 68Ga-PSMA, 68Ga-DOTA-TATE, 11C-Pittsburgh compound B, and 82Rb) were considered. Motion correction accuracy was assessed using 4 different measures: change in volume mismatch between individual WB image volumes to assess gross body motion, change in displacement of a large organ (liver dome) within the torso due to respiration, change in intensity in small tumor nodules due to motion blur, and constancy of activity concentration levels. Results: Motion correction decreased gross body motion artifacts and reduced volume mismatch across dynamic frames by about 50%. Moreover, large-organ motion correction was assessed on the basis of correction of liver dome motion, which was removed entirely in about 70% of all cases. Motion correction also improved tumor intensity, resulting in an average increase in tumor SUVs by 15%. Large deformations seen in gated cardiac 82Rb images were managed without leading to anomalous distortions or substantial intensity changes in the resulting images. Finally, the constancy of activity concentration levels was reasonably preserved (,2% change) in large organs before and after motion correction. Conclusion: FALCON allows fast and accurate correction of rigid and nonrigid WB motion artifacts while being insensitive to scanner hardware or tracer distribution, making it applicable to a wide range of PET imaging scenarios.

KW - automation

KW - diffeomorphic registration

KW - motion correction

KW - quantification

KW - total-body PET

KW - whole-body PET

U2 - 10.2967/jnumed.122.265362

DO - 10.2967/jnumed.122.265362

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37290795

AN - SCOPUS:85164208848

VL - 64

SP - 1145

EP - 1153

JO - The Journal of Nuclear Medicine

JF - The Journal of Nuclear Medicine

SN - 0161-5505

IS - 7

ER -