Clinical NECR in 18F-FDG PET scans: optimization of injected activity and variable acquisition time. Relationship with SNR

The injected activity and the acquisition time per bed position for 18F-FDG PET scans are usually optimized by using metrics obtained from phantom experiments. However, optimal activity and time duration can significantly vary from a phantom set-up and from patient to patient. An approach using a patient-specific noise equivalent count rate (NECR) modelling has been previously proposed for optimizing clinical scanning protocols. We propose using...