Acquisition protocol considerations for combined PET/CT imaging

Since its introduction in 1998, dual-modality PET/CT imaging has received great attention in the medical community. For the first time, patients can be examined with both CT and PET in a single examination. A whole-body survey is the standard mode of acquisition. The CT images are used for anatomic reference of the tracer uptake patterns imaged in PET, as well as for attenuation correction of the PET data. The routine use of CT-based attenuation correction and user preferences for the quality and type of the CT examination have led to the introduction of different PET/CT scanning protocols.