Fig. 6
From: Point-spread function reconstructed PET images of sub-centimeter lesions are not quantitative
Schematic illustration regarding the challenges in choosing optimal reconstruction parameters in a clinical setting. The SUVmax values are shown as a function of lesion size (SUV curve) up to 12 mm for lesions with identical uptake of tracer, e.g., 18FDG. Red: highest spatial resolution but with risk of misinterpretations due non-monotonic SUV curve (probably best for lesion detection). Green: a slightly wider post-filter restored the expected monotonic SUV curve but at the cost of decreased detectability (probably best for response evaluation). Blue: without PSF (not recommended for lesion detection. Useful for response evaluation but inferior to optimized PSF reconstruction, such as the green curve). The SUV curve shapes in the figure were based on recovery measures from Fig. 5. SUV curves are scanner-specific and depend on reconstruction algorithm, reconstruction parameters, and PSF kernel size. Note that SUV curves are only non-monotonic for high-resolution imaging of sub-cm lesions, such as normal sized lymph nodes and small lung lesions