Decreased imaging time of amyloid PET using [ 18 F]florbetapir can maintain quantitative accuracy

Shortening the amount of time required to acquire amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) brain images while maintaining the accuracy of quantitative evaluation would help to overcome motion artifacts associated with Alzheimer’s disease patients. The present study aimed to validate the quantitative accuracy of [ 18 F]florbetapir ([ 18 F]FBP) imaging over a shorter acquisition duration. Forty participants were injected with [ 18 F]FBP, and PET images were acquired for 50–55, 50–60, and 50–70 min after injection. Three physicians visually assessed the reprocessed [ 18 F]FBP images using a binary scale to classify them as amyloid β (Aβ) negative or positive. A mean composite standard uptake value ratio (cSUVR) > 1.075 was defined as Aβ-positive based on receiver operating characteristic curves. Inter-reader and inter-acquisition duration agreements with visual assessment were evaluated using Cohen’s kappa (κ). Binary visual discrimination of 102 for the 120 [ 18 F]FBP images, was consistent among the three readers. Sixteen, sixteen, and fourteen of the 40 [ 18 F]FBP images acquired for 50–55, 50–60, and 50–70 min after injection, respectively, were deemed Aβ-positive by visual assessment. The inter-rater agreement was high, and the inter-acquisition duration agreement was almost perfect. The cSUVR did not change significantly among the acquisition durations, and the acquisition duration did not affect the outcome of discrimination based on the cSUVR cutoff. A shorter acquisition duration changed the visual assessment outcomes. Stable quantitative values were derived from [ 18 F]FBP images acquired within 5 min. cSUVR helped to improve the performance and confidence in the outcomes of visual assessment.