Advanced image reconstruction algorithms for high-resolution digital time-of-flight PET/CT enhance visualization of sub-clinical internal mammary lymph node metastases in breast cancer: a phantom and a clinical, retrospective cohort study
In both phantom and clinical images, smaller RS-values for HYPER Iterative and larger Str-values for uAI HYPER DPR were associated with higher lesion conspicuity and contrast-related metrics, at the expense of increased noise. Images reconstructed with a 256 × 256 matrix showed lower background variability than those reconstructed with a 512 × 512 matrix. In the clinical study, these reconstruction settings resulted in higher SUV<sub>max</sub> and tumor-to-background ratios for IMLN metastases, and visual scores for diagnostic confidence were higher for HYPER Iterative (RS = 0.7-0.91) and uAI HYPER DPR (Str = 2-4) than for OSEM.
Authors
- Xibin Quan
- Yoko Satoh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0188-0906)
- Akinori Takenaka
- Hiroshi Toyama (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5341-1693)
- Edwin K. Leung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4165-7803)
- Masanori Watanabe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2751-2666)
- Noriaki Miyaji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1518-831X)
- Seiichiro Ota
- Tensho Yamao
- Yoshitaka Inui
- Masanori Inoue
- Kenta Miwa
Institutions
- Fukushima Medical University (JP)
- Fujita Health University (JP)
- Fujita Health University Hospital (JP)
- United Imaging Healthcare (China) (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- EJNMMI Physics
- Published
- 2026-02-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s40658-026-00846-8
- Primary Topic
- Medical Imaging Techniques and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00