Fast Voxel-Wise Kinetic Modeling in Dynamic PET using a Physics-Informed CycleGAN

Christian Salomonsen, Samuel Kuttner, Michael Kampffmeyer, Robert Jenssen, Kristoffer Knutsen Wickstrøm, Jong Chul Ye, Elisabeth Wetzer

Keywords: Kinetic modelig, dynamic PET, CycleGAN, pharmacokinetics, voxel-wise tracer dynamics

TL;DR: in this work a CycleGAN is used for direct voxel-wise tracer kinetic modeling in dynamic PET, bypassing the need for manual blood sampling and computationally expensive fitting.

Abstract: Tracer kinetic modeling serves a vital role in diagnosis, treatment planning, tracer development and oncology, but burdens practitioners with complex and invasive arterial input function estimation (AIF). We adopt a physics-informed CycleGAN showing promise in DCE-MRI quantification to dynamic PET quantification. Our experiments demonstrate sound AIF predictions and parameter maps closely resembling the reference.

Submission Number: 42