Attenuation correction without transmission scan for the MAMMI breast PET

Abstract Whole-body Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners are required in order to span large Fields of View (FOV). Therefore, reaching the sensitivity and spatial resolution required for early stage breast tumor detection is not straightforward. MAMMI is a dedicated breast PET scanner with a ring geometry designed to provide PET images with a spatial resolution as high as 1.5 mm, being able to detect small breast tumors ( 1 cm ) . The patient lays down in prone position during the scan, thus making possible to image the whole breast, up to regions close to the base of the pectoral without the requirement of breast compression. Attenuation correction (AC) for PET data improves the image quality and the quantitative accuracy of radioactivity distribution determination. In dedicated, high resolution breast cancer scanners, this correction would enhance the proper diagnosis in early disease stages. In whole-body PET scanners, AC is usually taken into account with the use of transmission scans, either by external radioactive rod sources or by Computed Tomography (CT). This considerably increases the radiation dose administered to the patient and time needed for the exploration. In this work we propose a method for breast shape identification by means of PET image segmentation. The breast shape identification will be used for the determination of the AC. For the case of a specific breast PET scanner the procedure we propose should provide AC similar to that obtained by transmission scans as we take advantage of the breast anatomical simplicity. Experimental validation of the proposed approach with a dedicated breast PET prototype is also presented. The main advantage of this method is an important dose reduction since the transmission scan is not required.