Abstract #4698

Use of Multi-Spectral MR Data to Generate an Attenuation Map for Application to PET/MR Hybrid Imaging

Harry Robert Marshall^1,2, Robert Z. Stodilka^1,2, Benoit Lewden¹, Jean Theberge^1,2, Eric Sabondjian^1,2, Alexandre Legros¹, Andrea Mitchell¹, Lela Dorrington¹, Jane Sykes¹, Frank S. Prato¹

¹Imaging, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada; ²Medical Biophysics, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

Attenuation correction is necessary to generate quantitatively accurate PET images but it is not straightforward in PET/MR hybrid imaging. One method to generate an attenuation map under such circumstances is to segment the MR images into tissue types and to assign said tissue types their known attenuation coefficients. The aim of our study was to determine whether using multispectral MR is beneficial to this end, and if so, which combination of pulse sequences is most effective. We confirmed that multispectral MR yields superior attenuation maps than single MR data sets, but the best combination of sequences depends upon anatomical position.