Quantitative analysis of PET studies

Quantitative analysis can be included relatively easily in clinical PET-imaging protocols, but in order to obtain meaningful quantitative results one needs to follow a standardized protocol for image acquisition and data analysis. Important factors to consider are the calibration of the PET scanner, the radiotracer uptake time and the approach for definition of regions of interests. Using such standardized acquisition protocols quantitative parameters of tumor metabolism or receptor status can be derived from tracer kinetic analysis and simplified approaches such as calculation of standardized uptake values (SUVs).