Optimizing acquisition times for total-body positron-emission tomography/computed tomography with half-dose 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose in oncology patients

Background: The present study aimed to explore the boundary of acquisition time and propose an optimized acquisition time range for total-body positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) oncological imaging using half-dose 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) activity based on diagnostic needs. Methods In this retrospective study, an exploration cohort (October 2019 to December 2019) of 46 oncology patients was first studied. The acquisition time for all patients was 15 min and the acquired images were reconstructed and further split into 15-, 8-, 5-, 3-, 2, 1-min duration groups (abbreviated as G15, G8, G5, G3, G2, and G1). The image quality and lesion detectability of reconstructed PET images with different acquisition times were evaluated subjectively (5-point scale, lesion-detection rate) and objectively (standardized uptake values, target-to-background ratio). In the same way, the filtered acquisition times were further validated in a cohort of 147 oncology patients (December 2019 to June 2021). Results In the exploration cohort, the subjective scores for G1, G2, G3, G5, and G8 images were 2.0 ± 0.2, 2.9 ± 0.3, 3.0 ± 0.0, 3.9 ± 0.2, and 4.2 ± 0.4, respectively. Two cases in G1 were rated as 1 point. No significant difference in scores was observed between G5 and G8 ( p  > 0.99). In general, groups with a longer acquisition time showed lower background uptake and lesion conspicuity. Compared with G15, lesion-detection rate significantly reduced to 85.3% in G1 ( p  < 0.05). In the validation cohort, the subjective score was 3.0 ± 0.2 for G2, 3.0 ± 0.1 for G3, 3.6 ± 0.5 for G5, 4.0 ± 0.3 for G8, and 4.4 ± 0.5 for Gs. Only the scores between G2 and G3 were not significantly different ( p  > 0.99). The detection rates (204 lesions) significantly reduced to 94.1–90.2% in G3 and G2 (all p  < 0.05). Conclusion A 2-min acquisition time provided acceptable performance in certain groups and specific medical situations. And protocols with acquisition times ≥ 5 min could provide comparable lesion detectability as regular protocols, showing better compatibility and feasibility with clinical practice.