Accuracy of target delineation by positron emission tomography-based auto-segmentation methods after deformable image registration: A phantom study.

Diagnostic positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) images can be fused to the planning CT images by a deformable image registration (DIR). The aim of this study was to evaluate the standardized uptake value (SUV) and target delineation on deformed PET images. We used a cylindrical phantom and removable inserts of four spheres (16-38 mm in diameter) and three ellipsoids with a volume equal to the 38-mm-diameter sphere (S38) in each. S38 was filled with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose activity, and then PET/CT images were acquired. The contours of S38 were generated using original PET images by PET auto-segmentation (PET-AS) methods of (1) SUV2.5, (2) 40% of maximum SUV (SUV40%max), and (3) gradient-based (GB), and were deformed to the other inserts by DIR. We compared the volumes and the SUV The SUV Although SUV fluctuations by DIR were negligible, the target delineation on deformed PET images by the GB should be carefully considered owing to the distortion of intensity profiles.

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Copyright © 2020 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.