Simultaneous PET/MR Imaging: Automatic Attenuation Correction of Flexible RF Coils

Ren Kartmann¹, Daniel H. Paulus¹, Bassim Aklan¹, Susanne Ziegler¹, Harald Braun¹, Bharath Navalpakkam¹, Harald H. Quick¹

Flexible RF surface coils used in simultaneous PET/MR imaging attenuate the PET signal and are currently not attenuation corrected. An algorithm is presented, which automatically integrates CT-based attenuation maps of flexible surface coils into PET attenuation correction. Registration is based on markers. Two phantoms are scanned with/out RF coils placed on top. Considerable local attenuation due to the presence of the coils was measured in regions close to the coils. The combined attenuation maps generated by the presented algorithm perform well concerning the attenuation correction of the coils. Furthermore, volunteer scans provide evidence that the algorithm is accurate and robust.