Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Sep;70(3):310-318.
doi: 10.1002/jmrs.686. Epub 2023 May 8.

The potential advantages and workflow challenges of long axial field of view PET/CT

Wei-Ting J Chen  1   2 , William I D Rae  1   2   3 , Peter L Kench  1   2 , Steven R Meikle  1   4
Affiliations
Review

The potential advantages and workflow challenges of long axial field of view PET/CT

Wei-Ting J Chen et al. J Med Radiat Sci. 2023 Sep.

Abstract

Recently developed Long (≥100 cm) axial field of view (AFOV) PET/CT scanners are capable of producing images with higher signal-to-noise ratio, or performing faster whole-body acquisitions, or scanning with lower radiation dose to the patient, compared with conventional PET/CT scanners. These benefits, which arise due to their substantially higher, by more than an order of magnitude, geometric efficiency, have been well described in the recent literature. The introduction of Long AFOV PET/CT technology into the clinic also has important implications for the design and workflow of PET/CT facilities and their effects on radiation exposure to staff and patients. Maximising the considerable benefits of this technology requires a thorough understanding of the relationships between these factors to optimise workflows while appropriately managing radiation exposure. This article reviews current knowledge on PET/CT facility design, workflows and their effects on radiation exposure, identifies gaps in the literature and discusses the challenges that need to be considered with the introduction of Long AFOV PET/CT into the clinic.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organisation or entity with any financial interests or non‐financial interests in the subject matter or materials discussed in this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Compared with the limited sensitivity of (A) current generation PET/CT, the (B) Long AFOV PET/CT dramatically increases the system sensitivity for imaging the entire body.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Summary of the workflow steps and considerations at a generic PET/CT facility.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Duclos V, Iep A, Gomez L, Goldfarb L, Besson F. PET molecular imaging: A holistic review of current practice and emerging perspectives for diagnosis, therapeutic evaluation and prognosis in clinical oncology. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22: 4159. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cherry SR, Jones T, Karp JS, Qi J, Moses WW, Badawi RD. Total‐body PET: maximizing sensitivity to create new opportunities for clinical research and patient care. J Nucl Med 2018; 59: 3–12. - PMC - PubMed
    1. El‐Galaly TC, Gormsen LC, Hutchings M. PET/CT for staging; past, present and future. Semin Nucl Med 2017; 48: 4–16. - PubMed
    1. Badawi RD, Shi H, Hu P, et al. First human imaging studies with the EXPLORER total‐body PET scanner. J Nucl Med 2019; 60: 299–303. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pantel AR, Viswanath V, Karp JS. Update on the PennPET explorer: A whole‐body imager with scalable axial field‐of‐view. PET Clin 2021; 16: 15–23. - PMC - PubMed