A novel figure of merit to investigate 68 Ga PET/CT image quality based on patient weight and lesion size using Q.Clear reconstruction algorithm: A phantom study

Q.Clear is a Bayesian penalised-likelihood algorithm that uses a β-value for positron emission tomography(PET)/computed tomography(CT) image reconstruction(IR). Our study proposes a novel figure of merit, named CRBV, to compare the Q.Clear performances using Ga PET/CT image with the ordered-subset-expectation-maximization(OSEM) algorithm and to identify the optimal β-values for these images using two phantoms mimicking normal and overweight patients. NEMA IQ phantom with or without a ring of water-filled plastic bags (NEMA and NEMA , respectively) was acquired and reconstructed with OSEM and Q.Clear at various β-values and minutes/bed position(min/bp). Contrast recovery(CR), background variability(BV) and CRBV were calculated. Highest CRBV values were used to identify optimal β-value ranges. Q.Clear with 250 ≤ β ≤ 800 improved CRBV compared to OSEM for all the investigated spheres and acquisition setups. Outside of this range, Q.Clear still outperformed OSEM with few exceptions depending on spheres diameters and phantoms(e.g.,β-value = 1600 for diameters ≤ 17 mm using the NEMA phantom). Regarding the CRBV performance for IR optimization, for the 4 min/bp NEMA IR, β-values = 300 ÷ 350 allowed to simultaneously optimize all diameters(except for the 10 mm); for the NEMA IR, β-values = 350 ÷ 500 were needed for diameters > 20 mm, while β-values = 200 ÷ 250 were selected for the remaining diameters. For the 2 min/bp, β-value = 500 was suitable for diameters > 17 mm in both NEMA and NEMA IR, while for smaller diameters β-value = 200 and β-values = 250 ÷ 350 were obtained for NEMA and NEMA , respectively. Almost all tested β-values of Q.Clear improved the CRBV compared to OSEM. In both phantoms, simulating normal and over-weight patients, optimal β-values were found according to lesion sizes and investigated acquisition times.