| 1. |
- Andersson, Camilla
(författare)
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PET/CT in oncology : Patient experience, image quality and the value of information
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim was to investigate patients’ experiences with a PET/CT examination, satisfaction with care provided in connection to the examination and whether web-based information can improve satisfaction with care and image quality, compared to standard care. An additional aim was to explore how satisfaction with care and image quality is associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and perceived stress. Methods: Study I and IV included patients with known or suspected malignancy scheduled for an 18F-FDG PET/CT examination. Study II included prostate cancer patients with known or suspected bone metastases scheduled for an 18F-fluoride PET/CT examination, and study III included head and neck cancer patients scheduled for an 18F-FDG PET/CT examination in a fixation mask. Study I and II had cross-sectional designs, study III used a phenomenological methodology according to Max van Manen, and study IV was a randomized controlled trial. Results: Study I and II found that many patients did not know before what a PET/CT examination was but were satisfied with care provided by the nursing staff. In study II the image quality was high and there was no difference in image quality between those patients that experienced pain or discomfort during the PET/CT and those that did not. Study III showed that the patient’s lifeworld was changed during the PET/CT examination and the use of coping strategies helped the patient to endure the examination procedure. In study IV the overall satisfaction, satisfaction single-variables and image quality was high in the intervention group and standard care group. There was no statistically significant difference between patients the intervention group and standard care group. However, there was slightly higher number of detected image quality defects in the standard care group. In study I and IV there were some statistically significant correlations between patient satisfaction and HRQoL (p<0.01-0.05). Conclusion: The results of this thesis may be used to improve patient information and care in connection to PET/CT examinations and thereby help optimize PET/CT imaging procedure. However, the results need to be investigated in larger populations.
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| 2. |
- Berglund, Johan, 1983-
(författare)
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Separation of Water and Fat Signal in Magnetic Resonance Imaging : Advances in Methods Based on Chemical Shift
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is one of the most important diagnostic tools of modern healthcare. The signal in medical MRI predominantly originates from water and fat molecules. Separation of the two components into water-only and fat-only images can improve diagnosis, and is the premier non-invasive method for measuring the amount and distribution of fatty tissue. Fat-water imaging (FWI) enables fast fat/water separation by model-based estimation from chemical shift encoded data, such as multi-echo acquisitions. Qualitative FWI is sufficient for visual separation of the components, while quantitative FWI also offers reliable estimates of the fat percentage in each pixel. The major problems of current FWI methods are long acquisition times, long reconstruction times, and reconstruction errors that degrade image quality. In this thesis, existing FWI methods were reviewed, and novel fully automatic methods were developed and evaluated, with a focus on fast 3D image reconstruction. All MRI data was acquired on standard clinical scanners. A triple-echo qualitative FWI method was developed for the specific application of 3D whole-body imaging. The method was compared with two reference methods, and demonstrated superior image quality when evaluated in 39 volunteers. The problem of qualitative FWI by dual-echo data with unconstrained echo times was solved, allowing faster and more flexible image acquisition than conventional FWI. Feasibility of the method was demonstrated in three volunteers and the noise performance was evaluated. Further, a quantitative multi-echo FWI method was developed. The signal separation was based on discrete whole-image optimization. Fast 3D image reconstruction with few reconstruction errors was demonstrated by abdominal imaging of ten volunteers. Lastly, a method was proposed for quantitative mapping of average fatty acid chain length and degree of saturation. The method was validated by imaging different oils, using gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) as the reference. The degree of saturation agreed well with GLC, and feasibility of the method was demonstrated in the thigh of a volunteer. The developed methods have applications in clinical settings, and are already being used in several research projects, including studies of obesity, dietary intervention, and the metabolic syndrome.
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| 3. |
- Carlbom, Lina
(författare)
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Positron Emission Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Techniques in Diabetes
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In order to further advance the field of diabetes research there is a great need for establishing validated non-invasive quantitative techniques to study the pancreas and other tissues of importance for blood glucose regulation. The general aim of this thesis was to explore magnetic resonance techniques and positron emission tomography as such tools.In paper I pancreatic perfusion under basal conditions and in response to glucose in nondiabetic and type 1 diabetic individuals was studied with [15O]H2O PET/CT. Individuals with type 1 diabetes were found to have reduced basal pancreatic perfusion and a severely impaired pancreatic and splanchnic perfusion response to intravenous glucose stimulation.In paper II four groups of subjects at different stages of type 2 diabetes development and a control group of individuals without diabetes were examined with PET/CT and MRI. The [11C]5-HTP uptake in pancreas was hypothesized to correlate with remaining functional capacity of the β-cells. The progressive loss of β-cell function indicated by metabolic testing was not mirrored by a decrease in [11C]5-HTP tracer accumulation in the pancreas. This provides evidence of retained islet mass despite decreased β-cell function, indicating that β-cell dysfunction or dedifferentiation, and not necessarily endocrine cell loss, constitutes a major cause of β-cell failure in type 2 diabetes.In paper III the feasibility of using ex-vivo MR spectroscopy for assessment of viability of human pancreas grafts prior to transplantation was studied. It was found that 31P-MRS may provide quantitative parameters for evaluating graft viability ex vivo, and is a promising tool for objective non-invasive assessment of the quality of human pancreas grafts.In paper IV the Imiomics method for automatic image analysis was validated in whole-body [18F]-FDG PET/MR images in subjects with varying degree of insulin resistance. Imiomics was found to provide association screening and timesaving analysis of whole-body data and detected differences in glucose uptake and tissue composition between subjects on voxel-level. However, it did not show complete correlation with traditional volume of interest based tissue analysis in a small cohort.
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| 4. |
- Eriksson, Olof, 1978-
(författare)
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Imaging Islets of Langerhans by Positron Emission Tomography : Quantification of Beta-Cell Mass in the Native Pancreas and the Islet Graft
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Type 1 and 2 Diabetes Mellitus are a growing health problem throughout the world. There is an increasing need for methodologies, which are both reliable and non-invasive to measure the amount of insulin-producing tissue (Beta-cell mass, or BCM), as well as rapidly quantify changes in the BCM due to the onset of disease, beta-cell replacement therapy, or other treatments. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a non-invasive, quantitative functional imaging technique which can be used to study dynamical or static processes inside the body. In this thesis, we present a study protocol for in vivo imaging of the most common form of beta- cell replacement therapy; islet transplantation. Islets were labeled with the PET tracer, 2-deoxy-2[18F]fluoro-D-glucose ([18F]FDG), and administered intra-portally, while the recipient was monitored by PET/CT. The hepatic distribution of the islets was highly heterogeneous, and around 25% (human) or 50% (porcine) of the administered islets could not be found in the liver after completed transplantation, confirming previous reports of considerable cell injury during the procedure leading to low hepatic engraftment. Native BCM in the pancreas can potentially be quantified using a PET tracer with sufficiently high specificity, but the major obstacle is the relative low amounts of insulin producing tissue (only 1-2% of the pancreatic volume). Two tetrabenazine analogues, [18F]FE-(+)-DTBZ and [18F]FE-(+)-DTBZ-d4, are ligands to VMAT2, which is expressed in islet tissue. Both analogues were investigated and characterized as potential BCM imaging agents both in vitro and in vivo. Both tracers exhibited high preferential binding to islet tissue compared to exocrine pancreatic tissue. However, the specificity was not high enough to overcome the obscuring exocrine signal in vivo (7-10% of the signal originating from specific islet tracer uptake). This thesis demonstrates that it is possible to quantitatively assess islet transplantation by PET imaging. In vivo determination of native pancreatic BCM is, in theory, possible with both [18F]FE-(+)-DTBZ and [18F]FE-(+)-DTBZ-d4, but tracer analogues with higher islet specificity is needed for quantification of smaller BCM changes with physiological impact.
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| 5. |
- Kero, Tanja
(författare)
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Methodological aspects of quantitative cardiac molecular imaging
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The objective of this research was to facilitate the use of quantitative cardiac molecular imaging by developing and validating methods and applications. More specifically:we determined the optimal tracer kinetic model for analysis of 11C-PIB and evaluated the performance of two simpler measures, retention index (RI) and standardized uptake value (SUV), in the quantification of cardiac 11C-PIB uptake in amyloidosis. An irreversible two-tissue (2Tirr) model best described the 11C-PIB uptake in cardiac amyloidosis. RI and SUV showed high correlation with quantitative results from this kinetic model and also a better discrimination between amyloidosis patients and controls than a 2Tirr model with population averaged metabolite correction. RI and SUV are furthermore more feasible for use in clinical routine and therefore the preferred measure to use in PET diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis. We also tested the feasibility of a semiautomatic software to analyze RI and visualize cardiac uptake of 11C-PIB in amyloidosis. The RI values were comparable with RI based on manual segmentation, showing significantly higher 11C-PIB RI in amyloidosis patients than in healthy volunteers. A fast and accurate semiautomatic analysis process is thus feasible to use for PET in cardiac amyloidosis instead of the laborious manual analyses that were used so far.Furthermore, we assessed the quantitative accuracy of cardiac perfusion measurements with 15O-water PET in a digital time-of-flight PET-MR scanner. A high correlation and agreement between PET-MR based and PET-CT based MBF was found; cardiac perfusion measurements with 15O-water can therefore be performed accurately with the fully integrated Signa PET-MR scanner. Finally, we assessed the quantitative accuracy of cardiac perfusion measurements using dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI with simultaneous 15O-water PET as reference at rest and during adenosine-induced hyperemia with a fully integrated PET-MR scanner. The correlations between global and regional MRI- and PET-based MBF values were good and the biases were negliable for both global and regional MBF comparisons, but the limits of agreement were wide for both global and regional MBF, with larger variability for high MBF-values indicating that MRI-based quantitative MBF measurement based on widely available acquisition protocols is not yet ready for clinical introduction.
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| 6. |
- Lundberg, Christina, 1972-
(författare)
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Screening for Atherosclerosis with Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Ultrasound
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Atherosclerosis is a major cause of death and disability worldwide. Although traditional risk factors can identify the healthy or severely affected individuals, sudden lethal outcome is still frequent in those suggested as intermediate in risk for cardiovascular events (CVE). Adding imaging to the traditional scoring systems might improve risk stratification.This thesis investigates whether the addition of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound (US) to traditional risk factors might render atherosclerosis suitable for mass screening, selective screening or screening in research settings.In paper I the carotid arteries were assessed in six different manners (carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) in two different locations, presence of plaque, number of plaques, plaque size and plaque composition) using US. More than 800 Caucasian subjects were assessed at ages 70 and 75, and outcome examined at 80 years of age. Plaques with an area exceeding 10mm2 in the bulb were found to be most closely related to CVE.Paper II established that carotid plaque volume measured with MRI did not correlate with carotid plaque area assessed with US. MRI reached the highest levels of reproducibility of the two methods.Paper III used the previously created total atherosclerotic score (TAS), a scoring system based on whole body magnetic resonance angiography (WBMRA) that assesses global atherosclerosis. TAS was found to predict CVE in 305 PIVUS-subjects at age 70 years during 5 years of follow-up. The risk for CVE was found to be eightfold with TAS>0.In paper IV CIMT was assessed with US at ages 70 and 75 years. CIMT at baseline, but not the change in CIMT over five years, was significantly related to TAS, thus suggesting carotid changes to correlate with atherosclerosis throughout the body.In conclusion, in research settings WBMRA and MRI, as well as US, can be used for screening and following up of atherosclerotic changes, as their predictive values and reproducibility are good. US might be feasible in selective screening but none of these methods are as of now suitable for mass screening.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Persson, Anders, 1953-
(författare)
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Volume imaging of the abdomen : three-dimensional visualisation of tubular structures in the body with CT and MRI
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overwhelming amount of image-based information in modem medicine makes it crucial to develop methods to handle and analyze images and make them comprehensible for users. The aim of this thesis was to study the radiological practice of three-dimensional (3D) visualization of tubular structures in the body with CT and MRI. All the studies cancern 3D imaging of tubular structures with camputed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The first three studies examine the abdominal aorta; the two later ones the, bile ducts.Study I compared measurements of aorta diameters taken from MR images presented using two visualization methods - maximum intensity projection (MlP) and volume rendering (VRT) - with invasive angiography (DSA) and CT as reference methods. Mean diameters of MR images were smaller than those from DSA and CT when MlP was used, but in general not when VRT was used.Study II evaluated the dependence on the observer and the choice of method and settings during rendering using the same material as in Study 1. In both MlP and VRT, the choice of settings had significant influence on the results. With DSA as the reference method, VRT gave larger measurement errors than MIP when the rendering parameters were set to fixed values, but not if the user was allowed to select the settings freely.Study III evaluated three new techniques for standardizing VRT protocols for MRA. Inter-reader variability and agreement with DSA were studied by comparing diameter measurements of the abdominal aorta obtained by the three new techniques, by VRT with freely chosen parameters and by MlP. All three new methods were significantly better than MlP and VRT with freely chosen parameters conceming inter-observer agreement. Agreement with DSA was significantly better for one of the methods. Standardized protocols seem to have a potential to make VRT a clinically useful alternative to MlP for MR angiography measurements.Study IV evaluated CT imaging of the bile ducts after drip intravenous infusion of the contrast medium iotroxate (CT cholangiography) in terms of adverse effects and visibility. With infusion time adjusted for individual variation in serum bilirubin concentration, a total side-effect frequency of less than 1% was found. A systematic review of previously published studies indicated a frequency of 2.3%. Good contrast excretion and visualization of bile ducts even in patients with elevated bilirubin levels were noted.Study V evaluated the diagnostic benefits of the same imaging method by comparing it with findings from surgery and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). The consensus sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing biliary stones was 88% and 94%, respectively. The use of VRT improved diagnostic certainty in 14% of the evaluatians, and the visualization of ductal stones was improved in 38% of the positive cases.In conclusion, volume rendering technique with standardized parameters may become a clinically useful tool in the clinical MRI environment. DIC-CT with bilirubin-governed infusion time and volume rendering post-processing produces detailed images of the biliary tree, resulting in good sensitivity and specificity. Moreover the safety is acceptable.
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| 9. |
- Sousa, Joao M., 1989-
(författare)
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Assessment of attenuation correction methods for quantitative neuro-PET/MR
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Hybrid PET/magnetic resonance (MR) can provide physiological, functional, and structural information simultaneously, facilitating research in neurological disorders. For quantitative PET, correction for photon attenuation (AC) is necessary. However, in contrast to dedicated PET and PET/computed tomography (CT) systems, PET/MR has no direct possibility to measure photon attenuation. As such, MR-based methods are required for AC (MRAC), and these need to be thoroughly validated before clinical implementation.The primary aim of this thesis was to evaluate two vendor-provided MRAC methods (single-atlas and zero echo time, ZTE), a previously published maximum probability (MaxProb) method, and a composite transmission scan atlas (CTR) method for a SIGNA PET/MR. This evaluation was done both in terms of absolute quantification in static scans and of outcome measures of tracer kinetic modelling based on dynamic scans. The secondary aim was to compare quantitative brain PET measurements acquired on the SIGNA PET/MR with those acquired on a dedicated PET scanner. Ten patients with parkinsonism who underwent dynamic dopamine transporter scans using 11C-PE2I in a PET/MR and dedicated PET were included. Standardized uptake values (SUV), binding potential (BPND), and relative delivery (R1) were assessed at volume of interest (VOI) and voxel level to compare the various MRAC methods with the gold-standard, a 68Ge transmission scan, and to compare quantitative outcomes between scanners.In general, ZTE provided the highest precision in SUV, R1 and BPND, showing the least inter-subject variability in bias compared to 68Ge-transmission AC, whereas MaxProb and CTR showed the lowest precision. Contrary to this, accuracy of absolute SUV values was best for CTR followed by MaxProb, with ZTE showing a homogeneous positive bias of about 10%. ZTE provided the highest accuracy in outcome measures of tracer kinetic analysis. Differences in quantitative results between stand-alone PET and PET/MR exceeded what can be explained by difference in AC alone, although they were still comparable to previously published test-retest variability of 11C-PE2I. Additionally, an activation in the auditory cortex was seen in PET data from the PET/MR because of the noise produced by the MR gradients.ZTE-MRAC appears to be the best method for dynamic scanning and tracer kinetic analysis using reference methods, while CTR- and MaxProb-MRAC appear the most appropriate for absolute quantification. Also, attention should be taken to the auditory cortex activation in R1 images when comparing data from PET/MR and other PET- systems.
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| 10. |
- von Below, Catrin
(författare)
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PET and MRI of Prostate Cancer
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common non-skin malignancy of men in developed countries. In spite of treatment with curative intent up to 30-40% of patients have disease recurrence after treatment, resulting from any combination of lymphatic, hematogenous, or contiguous local spread.The concept of early detection of PCa offer benefits in terms of reduced mortality, but at the cost of over-diagnosis and overtreatment of indolent disease. This is largely due to the random nature of conventional biopsies, with a risk of missing significant cancer and randomly hitting indolent disease.In the present thesis, diagnostic performance of MRI DWI and 11C Acetate PET/CT lymph node staging of intermediate and high risk PCa, was investigated, and additionally, predictive factors of regional lymph node metastases were evaluated. Further, additional value of targeted biopsies to conventional biopsies, for detection of clinically significant PCa, was investigated.In paper one and two, 53 and 40 patients with predominantly high risk PCa underwent 11C Acetate PET/CT and 3T MRI DWI, respectively, for lymph node staging, before extended pelvic lymph node dissection (ePLND). The sensitivity and specificity for PET/CT was 38% and 96% respectively. The sensitivity and specificity for MRI DWI was 55% and 90% respectively.In paper three, 53 patients with newly diagnosed PCa were included. All patients underwent multi-parametric MRI, followed by two cognitive targeted biopsies. Five more clinically significant cancers were detected by adding targeted biopsies to conventional biopsies.In paper four the value of quantitative and qualitative MRI DWI and 11C Acetate PET/CT parameters, alone and in combination, in predicting regional lymph node metastases were examined. ADCmean in lymph nodes and T-stage on MRI were independent predictors of lymph node metastases in multiple logistic regression analysis.In conclusion the specificity of diffusion weighted MRI and 11C Acetate PET/CT for lymph node staging was high, although the sensitivity was low. Predictive factors of regional lymph node metastases could be retrieved from diffusion weighted MRI and 11C Acetate PET/CT. By combining targeted biopsies with conventional biopsies the detection rate of clinically significant PCa could be increased.
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