Structural and practical identifiability of dual-input kinetic modeling in dynamic PET of liver inflammation

Dynamic 18F-FDG PET with tracer kinetic modeling has the potential to noninvasively evaluate human liver inflammation using the FDG blood-to-tissue transport rate K 1. Accurate kinetic modeling of dynamic liver PET data and K 1 quantification requires the knowledge of dual-blood input function from the hepatic artery and portal vein. While the arterial input function can be derived from the aortic region on dynamic PET images, it is difficult to...