Respiratory-gated PET/CT for pulmonary lesion characterisation—promises and problems

Abstract

2-Deoxy-2-(18Fluorine)-fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is an integral part of lung carcinoma staging and frequently used in the assessment of solitary pulmonary nodules. However, a limitation of conventional 3D PET/CT when imaging the thorax is its susceptibility to motion artefact which blurs the signal from the lesion resulting in inaccurate representation of size and metabolic activity. Respiratory gated (4D) PET/CT aims to negate the effects of motion artefact and provide a more accurate interpretation of pulmonary nodules and lymphadenopathy. There have been recent advances in technology and a shift from traditional hardware to more streamlined software methods for respiratory gating which should allow more widespread use of respiratory-gating in the future. The purpose of this article is to review the evidence surrounding 4D PET/CT in pulmonary lesion characterisation.