Decay correction methods in dynamic PET studies

In order to reconstruct positron emission tomography (PET) images in quantitative dynamic studies, the data must be corrected for radioactive decay. One of the two commonly used methods ignores physiological processes including blood flow that occur at the same time as radioactive decay; the other makes incorrect use of time-accumulated PET counts. In simulated dynamic PET studies using /sup 11/C-acetate and /sup 18/F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), these methods are shown to result in biased estimates of the time-activity curve (TAG) and model parameters. New methods described in this article provide significantly improved parameter estimates in dynamic PET studies.