Comments on the NEMA NU 4-2008 Standard on Performance Measurement of Small Animal Positron Emission Tomographs

摘要

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association’s (NEMA) NU 4-2008 standard on “Performance Measurements of Small Animal Positron Emission Tomography” specifies “standardized methodology for evaluating the performance of positron emission tomographs (PET) designed for animal imaging” [ ]. The standard’s goal is to enable comparison of the performance of different PET systems over a wide range of technologies and geometries used. Thus, the methods specified in the standard should not artificially favor or disfavor certain choices in scanner geometry and technology and the performance results should indicate the expected performance in real-world applications as closely as possible. Virtually all commercial small-animal PET systems and most research prototype PET systems have published performance evaluations based on the NEMA standard and Goertzen et al. [ ] have published a review comparing small-animal PET systems based on the respective NEMA performance publications. These publications are an essential benchmark in the development of new PET systems and an important tool for the purchase decisions of potential buyers.