Quantitative Imaging of Scandium Isotopes with a Long Axial Field-of-View PET/CT
Abstract
Objective. 43Sc and 44Sc are positron-emitting isotopes of scandium that have attracted growing interest for theranostic applications in conjunction with the therapeutic isotope 47Sc. Both isotopes are non-pure positron emitters, and the associated prompt-gamma emission together with the high positron energy introduce complexities in achieving precise quantitative imaging. Approach. We evaluated the quantitative imaging performance of 44Sc and a 43/44Sc mixture on a long axial field-of-view (LAFOV) PET/CT using a NEMA IEC body phantom. We assessed contrast recovery coefficients, image noise and bias for different numbers of iterations and for absolute versus relative scatter correction, and implemented an isotope-specific point-spread-function (PSF) correction based on FLUKA-simulated positron ranges. Main results. The quantitative imaging performance of both isotopes is comparable to 18F, and the vendor's prompt-gamma correction effectively suppresses the additional random coincidences and lung error caused by prompt-gamma emission. The isotope-specific PSF correction further improves contrast recovery. While the bias obtained for 44Sc meets the EARL acceptance criterion for non-standard radionuclides, the bias for the 43/44Sc mixture exceeds it, which we attribute to the mixture-specific cross-calibration of the dose calibrators rather than to the PET imaging. Significance. Our results support the use of LAFOV PET/CT for quantitative imaging of scandium isotopes and provide practical reconstruction recommendations for clinical protocols.
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BibTeX
@misc{mercolli2026quantitative,
title = {{Quantitative Imaging of Scandium Isotopes with a Long Axial Field-of-View PET/CT}},
author = {Lorenzo Mercolli and Mohammadreza Teimoorisichani and Alenka E. Gaschen and Pascal V. Grundler and Anzhelika N. Moiseeva and Saverio Braccini and Nicholas P. van der Meulen},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.28884},
eprint = {2610.28884},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.28884},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Quantitative Imaging of Scandium Isotopes with a Long Axial Field-of-View PET/CT
AU - Lorenzo Mercolli
AU - Mohammadreza Teimoorisichani
AU - Alenka E. Gaschen
AU - Pascal V. Grundler
AU - Anzhelika N. Moiseeva
AU - Saverio Braccini
AU - Nicholas P. van der Meulen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.28884
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.28884
AB - Objective. ^43Sc and ^44Sc are positron-emitting isotopes of scandium that have attracted growing interest for theranostic applications in conjunction with the therapeutic isotope ^47Sc. Both isotopes are non-pure positron emitters, and the associated prompt-gamma emission together with the high positron energy introduce complexities in achieving precise quantitative imaging. Approach. We evaluated the quantitative imaging performance of ^44Sc and a ^43/44Sc mixture on a long axial field-of-view (LAFOV) PET/CT using a NEMA IEC body phantom. We assessed contrast recovery coefficients, image noise and bias for different numbers of iterations and for absolute versus relative scatter correction, and implemented an isotope-specific point-spread-function (PSF) correction based on FLUKA-simulated positron ranges. Main results. The quantitative imaging performance of both isotopes is comparable to ^18F, and the vendor's prompt-gamma correction effectively suppresses the additional random coincidences and lung error caused by prompt-gamma emission. The isotope-specific PSF correction further improves contrast recovery. While the bias obtained for ^44Sc meets the EARL acceptance criterion for non-standard radionuclides, the bias for the ^43/44Sc mixture exceeds it, which we attribute to the mixture-specific cross-calibration of the dose calibrators rather than to the PET imaging. Significance. Our results support the use of LAFOV PET/CT for quantitative imaging of scandium isotopes and provide practical reconstruction recommendations for clinical protocols.
ER -