In collaboration with Lucerno Dynamics LLC we are developing a classifier for radiotracer infiltration severity that utilizes radiation topical sensor measurements acquired during tracer injection.
The most clinically utilized metric for quantifying tracer uptake on PET is the standardized uptake value (SUV), defined as the ratio of measured tracer in the image over the assumed average concentration of “total” injected tracer in the patient. Thus, generation of accurate SUVs necessitates both quantitative PET images as well as the delivery of the full radiotracer dose into the patient’s venous circulation. Recent data, however, has indicated that a substantial amount of tracer may persist near the injection site due to a faulty injection or physiological factors (tracer infiltration). Consequently, radiological decision making based on this semi-quantitative metric may suffer if patient data without substantial tracer infiltrations is used. Lucerno Dynamics has developed an external monitoring system for the purpose of detecting tracer infiltrations throughout the tracer uptake period (above image).
By correlating ground-truth infiltration estimates from PET images with topical sensor measurements we have generated a classifier that can accurately label infiltration severity. Preliminary results indicate the classifier has dramatically improved performance over radiological analysis.