Partial Volume Correction using Structural–Functional Synergistic Resolution Recovery: Comparison with Geometric Transfer Matrix Method

Abstract

We validated the use of a novel image-based method for partial volume correction (PVC), structural-functional synergistic resolution recovery (SFS-RR) for the accurate quantification of dopamine synthesis capacity measured using [ 18 F]DOPA positron emission tomography. The bias and reliability of SFS-RR were compared with the geometric transfer matrix (GTM) method. Both methodologies were applied to the parametric maps of [ 18 F]DOPA utilization rates (k i cer ). Validation was first performed by measuring repeatability on test-retest scans. The precision of the methodologies instead was quantified using simulated [ 18 F]DOPA images. The sensitivity to the misspecification of the full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) of the scanner point-spread-function on both approaches was also assessed. In the in-vivo data, the k i cer was significantly increased by application of both PVC procedures while the reliability remained high (intraclass correlation coefficients 40.85). The variability was not significantly affected by either PVC approach (o10% variability in both cases). The corrected k i cer was significantly influenced by the FWHM applied in both the acquired and simulated data. This study shows that SFS-RR can effectively correct for partial volume effects to a comparable degree to GTM but with the added advantage that it enables voxelwise analyses, and that the FWHM used can affect the PVC result indicating the importance of accurately calibrating the FWHM used in the recovery model.

Partial-volume correction in dynamic PET-CT: effect on tumor kinetic parameter estimation and validation of simplified metrics

“…Both tumor macroparameters V T and BP ND , and microparameter K 1 significantly changed after application of PVC. This corresponds with results from applications of PVC in brain dynamic PET studies, where similar increases in kinetic parameter estimations have been observed when applying PVC in the case of activity spill-out [19–21, 31]. Interestingly, the effect of PVC on kinetic parameter estimates was poorly (albeit significantly) correlated with its effect on simplified measures.…”

Partial volume correction in quantitative amyloid imaging

“…In our implementation, a brain tissue mask is generated based on FreeSurfer segmentation, a CSF dilution factor is calculated for each region, and the raw time activity curve for each region is corrected by this dilution factor before BP ND is calculated. The second method is based on computation of the regional spread function (RSF) (Rousset et al, 2008; Rousset et al, 1998), which has also been extensively applied in PET imaging analysis (Kim et al, 2013; Kuhn et al, 2014; Le Pogam et al, 2011). Our implementation of RSF PVC also included additional ROIs outside the brain (hence, not defined by FreeSurfer) to account for tracer uptake in non-brain tissue.…”

Alterations in cortical and extrastriatal subcortical dopamine function in schizophrenia: systematic review and meta-analysis of imaging studies

“…These become important for structures two to three times smaller than the resolution of the scanner. 60,61 These effects include loss of signal in affected regions as well as spill-over from neighbouring structures. Where there is a loss of volume in a region, as there is in cortical regions in schizophrenia, 62 this could bias group comparisons.…”