AQARA Requirements for Radionuclide-Based Images
| Feature | Specific requirement |
|---|---|
| Intensity-scale bar | Show for each figure |
| Indicate unit and upper and lower window settings | |
| Prefer absolute units | |
| Use biologic parameters if available (e.g., rate constants, metabolic rates, binding potential) | |
| If not, use activity concentration (e.g., SUV, Bq/mL, %IA/cm3) | |
| Minimally, include relative units (e.g., percentage of maximum) | |
| Background subtraction | Avoid |
| If unavoidable, clearly indicate in scale bar | |
| Keep bottom of scale bar at “0” | |
| Set subtracted fraction of scale bar to background color | |
| Image display | Use same window settings for all figures |
| Accompany fusion images (SPECT/CT, PET/CT, PET/MR) by corresponding stand-alone SPECT or PET images | |
| Limit cropping | |
| If cropping is applied, show corresponding uncropped, full-field-of-view image |
%IA/cm3 = percentage of injected activity per cubic centimeter of tissue.