Effect of Time-of-Flight Information on PET/MR Reconstruction Artifacts: Comparison of Free-breathing versus Breath-hold MR-based Attenuation Correction

Purpose: To evaluate the magnitude and anatomic extent of the artifacts introduced on positron emission tomographic (PET)/magnetic resonance (MR) images by respiratory state mismatch in the attenuation map. Materials and Methods: The method was tested on 14 patients referred for an oncologic examination who underwent PET/MR imaging. The acquisition included standard PET and MR series for each patient, and an additional attenuation correction series was acquired by using breath hold. PET data were reconstructed with and without time-of-flight (TOF) information, first by using the standard free-breathing attenuation map and then again by using the additional breath-hold map. Two-tailed paired t testing and linear regression with 0 intercept was performed on TOF versus non-TOF and free-breathing versus breath-hold data for all detected lesions. Results: Fluorodeoxyglucose-avid lesions were found in eight of the 14 patients included in the study. The uptake differences (maximum standardized uptake values) between PET reconstructions with free-breathing versus breath-hold attenuation ranged, for non-TOF reconstructions, from -18% to 26%. The corresponding TOF reconstructions yielded differences from -15% to 18%. Conclusion: TOF information was shown to reduce the artifacts caused at PET/MR by respiratory mismatch between emission and attenuation data. (C) RSNA, 2016