ROC comparison of acquisition parameters for two PET/CT scanners based on lesion detectability in a torso phantom

Abstract

Positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) are well established and powerful tools for medical diagnostics but even integrated PET/CT scanner images still lack the necessary quality and resolution that would make medical diagnoses flawless. In this thesis experiments were performed to statistically determine the effect that image acquisition parameters have upon diagnostic accuracy. Images from different PET/CT scanners were assessed by comparing subject human diagnostic accuracy from a sample of both professional and student volunteers. The assessment results were compared to the objective NEMA-standards performance data provided by the manufacturers for each scanner. The data analysis method is the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. We hypothesize that human performance in making accurate diagnoses from PET images correlates with the system performance. The data shows that human diagnostic performance correlates to spatial resolution and sensitivity of the PET imaging systems