Investigation of signal averaging on image quality in positron emission tomography

Conventional [O-15]water PET rCBF methodology is composed of 1-10 injections of 10-50 mCi associated with multiple brain activation conditions (between 1-10). Injections occur at 10-15 min intervals. The current research compares the regional CBF signal using conventional PET studies with a method that involves summing data from 50-100 low dose injections (1-5 mCi) that have been administered in rapid but uniform succession (occurs at 1-2 min intervals) over a total study duration of 1-2 hours. This design allows for single subject studies. PET data from multiple occurrences are simulated for each specific activation condition and are summed to create a high statistics image for each activation condition. The results from the simulation are to be used to develop a computer controlled injection and data acquisition system.