Effects of a novel tungsten-impregnated rubber neck shield on the quality of cerebral images acquired using ¹⁵O-labeled gas

The present study aimed to validate the effects of a novel tungsten-impregnated rubber neck shield on the quality of phantom and clinical ¹⁵O-labeled gas positron emission tomography (PET) images. Images were acquired in the presence or absence of a neck shield from a cylindrical phantom containing [¹⁵O]H₂O (phantom study) and from three individuals using [¹⁵O]CO₂, [¹⁵O]O₂ and [¹⁵O]CO gas (clinical study). Data were acquired in three-dimensional (3D) mode using a Discovery PET/CT 710. Values for cerebral blood flow, cerebral blood volume, oxygen extraction fraction, and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen with and without the neck shield were calculated from ¹⁵O-labeled gas images. Arterial radioactivity and count characteristics were evaluated in the phantom and clinical studies. The coefficient of variance (CV) for the phantom study and the standard deviation (SD) for functional images were also analyzed. The neck shield decreased the random count rates by 25–59% in the phantom and clinical studies. The noise equivalent count rate (NECR) increased by 44–66% in the phantom and clinical studies. Random count rates and NECR in [¹⁵O]CO₂ images significantly differed with and without the neck shield. The improvement in visual and physical image quality with the neck shield was not observed in the phantom and clinical studies. The novel neck shield reduced random count rate and improved NECR in a 3D PET study using ¹⁵O-labeled gas. The image quality with the neck shield was similar to that without the neck shield.