A 82Rb infusion system for quantitative perfusion imaging with 3D PET

A 82Rb infusion system is described with two important features for imaging with 3D positron emission tomography. First, a generator bypass line is added to flush the patient infusion line at the end of an elution. Second, feedback control is implemented to permit ‘slow-bolus’ constant-activity elutions. A model for the activity eluted from a 82Sr/82Rb generator based on a volume–activity empirical relationship, is used as the basis for performing simulations to demonstrate the efficacy of varying the flow rate through the generator to achieve desired eluted 82Rb activity rate profiles. A 82Rb infusion system was constructed to verify the accuracy of the simulations. The system can deliver accurate constant-activity elutions from 10% to 70% of the total generator activity.