Daily quality controls and cross-calibrations in PET-CT imaging, in routine and for clinical studies

Purpose: The modality PET/CT with 18F-F.D.G. become increasingly indicated in oncology. In the same time, the standardized uptake value (S.U.V.) that indicates metabolic activity in a specific interest area represents currently the most used semiquantitative parameter. the variability of these S.U.V. measures can be linked to questions of PET/CT devices stability and/or dosemeters that determine the injected dose. Our objective was to investigate this variability in the intra or inter devices cases and to propose a methodology of quality control and cross-calibration. Conclusions: Our results consolidate the hypothesis the PET/CT installations require daily quality control as other modalities. They suggest a procedure of cross-calibration should be taken into account before the multi centric use of S.U.V. measures in the clinical studies. (N.C.)