Table 4 Results of quantitative PET image assessment for different reconstruction algorithms including maximum standardized uptake value (SUV_max) of the primary lung tumor, tumor signal-to-background ratio (SBR), tumor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-background ratio (CBR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). Italicized numbers are the reconstructed datasets yielding the highest values for given parameters

SUV_max

 Mean

11.9

12.7

15.0

14.5

14.0

13.4

12.8

 Median

11.7

12.8

14.3

14.2

13.8

13.4

12.9

 Range

3.6–25.2

3.5–26.7

4.0–30.4

3.8–29.9

3.6–29.2

3.4–28.4

3.2–27.5

SBR

 Mean

6.9

7.4

8.8

8.5

8.1

7.6

7.3

 Median

6.7

7.3

8.7

8.4

7.9

7.7

7.3

 Range

1.9–12.8

1.8–13.6

2.1–16.6

1.9–16.0

1.8–15.3

1.7–14.6

1.6–13.8

SNR

 Mean

41.7

48.3

51.1

55.4

62.6

70.2

82.3

 Median

38.9

43.5

48.5

51.7

58.0

64.3

75.6

 Range

11.6–81.1

11.9–92.1

11.1–101.4

11.9–103.1

13.3–116.7

14.9–135.3

16.7–161.9

CBR

 Mean

3.1

3.4

4.1

4.0

3.8

3.6

3.4

 Median

3.1

3.4

3.8

3.8

3.5

3.4

3.3

 Range

0.2–6.5

0.1–7.0

0.2–8.2

0.1–7.8

0.1–7.6

0.1–7.2

0.04–6.8

CNR

 Mean

18.8

22.2

23.8

26.0

29.3

32.8

38.3

 Median

18.1

20.3

21.6

23.8

26.7

29.4

34.0

 Range

1.0–40.0

0.9–44.9

1.0–49.3

0.9–50.0

0.8–56.7

0.6–65.7

0.4–78.4