Abstract
Metabolic tumor volume is a volume defined as the total metabolically active tumor volume of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) exams. Calculating the metabolic tumor volume (MTV) is often time consuming requiring a high degree of manual input. A comparison of MTV calculations obtained by a board-certified Nuclear Radiologist and two Nuclear Medicine Technologist Students (NMTS) was performed in this study. A 30-minute training session with a Nuclear Radiologist was performed with the NMTS after their classroom time as part of their educational program. The NMTS calculated MTV within 7.5% of the Radiologist in a set of DLBCL patients undergoing initial staging FDG PET/CT. These findings suggest NM Technologists may help accelerate implementation of MTV into clinical practice with favorable accuracy, possibly as an initial step followed by interpreting physician validation. The aim of this study is to explore improved efficiency of calculating total MTV by integrating Nuclear Medicine (NM) Technologists with a semi-automated workflow.
