Pet/Ct and Pet/Mri, Normal Variations, and Artifacts Publisher



Beheshti M^{1, 2} ; Manafifarid R^{1, 3} ; Rezaee A⁴ ; Langsteger W¹ Show Affiliations
Source: Clinical Nuclear Medicine: Second Edition Published:2020

Abstract

Hybrid positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has emerged a pivotal role in cancer imaging in the last two decades. It allows simultaneous acquisition and assessment of metabolic and morphologic changes which lead to higher accuracy, reporter confidence, and cost-effectiveness when compared with stand-alone performance of each modality. Various specific radiotracers such as 18F-FDG-, 18F-choline-, 11C-choline-, 18F-sodium fluoride, and the 68Ga-labeled peptide have been introduced in routine clinical practice depending on disease characteristics and the metabolic pathways of the cancerous tissues. However, tracer uptake is frequently not specific to a single pathologic process, and accurate interpretation of PET/CT requires the good knowledge of the normal distribution of different tracers and also incidental findings that are often encountered in clinical practice. In the last few years, dedicated positron emission tomography/magnet resonance imaging (PET/MRI) has also become commercially available. Although the radiopharmaceutical-related physiologic uptakes and artifacts are mostly similar from PET/CT to PET/MRI, there are different technical artifacts which should be considered for accurate interpretation. In this chapter, we provide a review concerning the physiologic uptakes of common radiotracers and benign findings in a specific order based on different parts of the body, head and neck, thorax, abdomen, and pelvis. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.