Breast cancer imaging studies with a variable field of view PET camera

This is a study of the FDG breast cancer imaging capability of the prototype high resolution multi-ring variable field of view PET scanner developed at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDAPET). For the primary lesion-imaging test, four small phantom lesions embedded into two different size cylindrical breast phantoms were imaged using the breast-mode of the camera. For the axillary-lesion imaging test, four small hot lesion phantoms taped to the armpits of a 68-kg volunteer injected with 3.5 mCi of FDG were imaged using a whole-body mode of the camera. The primary breast lesion imaging results show that a 3 mm lesion can be detected in both the small (φ=11.5 cm) and large (φ=16 cm) breast phantoms when the lesion standard uptake value (SUV) is greater than 2.5. In the whole body mode, axillary lesions of 6 mm can be detected for lesion SUV of 5 or more