Decay Correction for Quantitative Myocardial PET Perfusion in Established PET Scanners: A Potentially Overlooked Source of Errors

Abstract

Quantitative myocardial PET perfusion requires decay correction (DC) of the dynamic datasets to ensure that measured activity reflects true physiology and not radiotracer decay or frame duration. DC is typically performed by the PET camera system, and the exact algorithm is buried within the settings and assumed to be correct for quantitative perfusion data. For quantitative myocardial perfusion, sequential dynamic images should be decay-corrected to the activity at the midpoint of the first scan in the sequence. However, there are different DC algorithms that can be implemented depending on the needs and expertise of the laboratory. As such, before quantitative myocardial perfusion is performed, the DC technique of a camera system should be tested.