Japanese guideline for the oncology FDG-PET/CT data acquisition protocol: synopsis of Version 1.0

This synopsis outlines the Japanese guideline Version 1.0 for the data acquisition protocol of oncology FDG-PET/CT scans that was created by a joint task force of the Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine Technology (JSNMT) and the Japanese Council of PET Imaging, and published in Kakuigaku-Gijutsu 29(2):195–235, 2009, in Japanese. The guideline aims at standardizing the PET image quality among facilities and different PET/CT scanner models by determining and/or evaluating the data acquisition condition in experiments using an IEC body phantom, as well as by proposing the criteria for human image quality evaluation using patient noise equivalent count (NEC), NEC density, and liver signal-to-noise ratio.