Image quality of Zr-89 PET imaging in the Siemens microPET Focus 220 preclinical scanner

Purpose Zr-89 positron emission tomography (PET) is a valuable tool for understanding the biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of antibody-based therapeutics. We compared the image quality of Zr-89 PET and F-18 PET in the Siemens microPET Focus 220 preclinical scanner using different reconstruction methods. Procedures Image quality metrics were measured in various Zr-89 and F-18 PET phantoms, including the NEMA NU 4-2008 image quality phantom. Images were reconstructed using various algorithms. Results Zr-89 PET had greater image noise, inferior spatial resolution, and greater spillover than F-18 PET, but comparable recovery coefficients for cylinders of various diameters. Of the reconstruction methods, OSEM3D resulted in the lowest noise, highest recovery coefficients, best spatial resolution, but also the greatest spillover. Scatter correction results were found to be sensitive to varying object sizes. Conclusions Zr-89 PET image quality was inferior to that of F-18, and no single reconstruction method was superior in all aspects of image quality.