Experimental approach for optimizing dose regimen of 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT for neuroendocrine tumor (NET) imaging in current high sensitivity scanners: Phantom and Patient Study

Abstract Aim This study aimed to determine the optimized scan time and injected activity regimen for clinical 68Ga DOTATATE PET/CT in neuroendocrine tumor imaging through an experimental approach without using machine learning techniques. Methods A NEMA PET body phantom was used with Ga-68 to simulate a 9:1 sphere-to-background ratio. PET data were acquired on a high-sensitivity scanner at various scan times (15–300 s/bed). For each scan time, coefficient of variation (COV) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were calculated. The minimum scan time (Tmin) needed to meet the Rose Criterion (CNR > 5) for the smallest…