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Background: The total-body positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) system, with a long axial field of view, represents the state-of-the-art PET imaging technique. Recently, the total-body PET/CT system has been commercially available. The total-body PET/CT system enables high-resolution whole-body imaging, even under extreme conditions such as ultra-low dose, extremely fast imaging speed, delayed imaging more than 10 h after tracer injection, and total-body dynamic scan. The total-body PET/CT system provides a real-time picture of the tracers of all organs across the body, which not only helps to explain normal human physiological process, but also facilitates the comprehensive assessment of systemic diseases. In addition, the total-body PET/CT system may play critical roles in other medical fields, including cancer imaging, drug development and immunology. Main body: Therefore, it is of significance to summarize the existing studies of the total-body PET/CT systems and point out its future direction. This review collected research literatures from the PubMed database since the advent of commercially available total-body PET/CT systems to the present, and was divided into the following sections: Firstly, a brief introduction to the total-body PET/CT system was presented, followed by a summary of the literature on the performance evaluation of the total-body PET/CT. Then, the research and clinical applications of the total-body PET/CT were discussed. Fourthly, deep learning studies based on total-body PET imaging was reviewed. At last, the shortcomings of existing research and future directions for the total-body PET/CT were discussed. Conclusion: Due to its technical advantages, the total-body PET/CT system is bound to play a greater role in clinical practice in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bone metastasis is a common event in lung cancer progression. Early diagnosis of lung malignant tumor with bone metastasis is crucial for selecting effective treatment strategies. However, 14.3% of patients are still difficult to diagnose after SPECT/CT examination. Purpose: Machine learning analysis of [99mTc]‐methylene diphosphate (99mTc‐MDP) SPECT/CT scans to distinguish bone metastases from benign bone lesions in patients with lung cancer. Methods: One hundred forty‐one patients (69 with bone metastases and 72 with benign bone lesions) were randomly assigned to the training group or testing group in a 7:3 ratio. Lesions were manually delineated using ITK‐SNAP, and 944 radiomics features were extracted from SPECT and CT images. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was used to select the radiomics features in the training set, and the single/bimodal radiomics models were established based on support vector machine (SVM). To further optimize the model, the best bimodal radiomics features were combined with clinical features to establish an integrated Radiomics‐clinical model. The diagnostic performance of models was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and confusion matrix, and performance differences between models were evaluated using the Delong test. Results: The optimal radiomics model comprised of structural modality (CT) and metabolic modality (SPECT), with an area under curve (AUC) of 0.919 and 0.907 for the training and testing set, respectively. The integrated model, which combined SPECT, CT, and two clinical features, exhibited satisfactory differentiation in the training and testing set, with AUC of 0.939 and 0.925, respectively. Conclusions: The machine learning can effectively differentiate between bone metastases and benign bone lesions. The Radiomics‐clinical integrated model demonstrated the best performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) is a hybrid imaging modality that combines optical excitation and acoustic detection techniques. It obtains high‐resolution deep‐tissue images based on the deep penetration of light, the anisotropy of light absorption in objects, and the photoacoustic effect. Hence, PACT shows great potential in biomedical sample imaging. Recently, due to its advantages of high sensitivity to optical absorption and wide scalability of spatial resolution with the desired imaging depth, PACT has received increasing attention in preclinical and clinical practice. To date, there has been a proliferation of PACT systems designed for specific biomedical imaging applications, from small animals to human organs, from ex vivo to in vivo real‐time imaging, and from simple structural imaging to functional and molecular imaging with external contrast agents. Therefore, it is of great importance to summarize the previous applications of PACT systems in biomedical imaging and clinical practice. In this review, we searched for studies related to PACT imaging of biomedical tissues and samples over the past two decades; divided the studies into two categories, PACT imaging of preclinical animals and PACT imaging of human organs and body parts; and discussed the significance of the studies. Finally, we pointed out the future directions of PACT in biomedical applications. With the development of exogenous contrast agents and advances of imaging technique, in the future, PACT will enable biomedical imaging from organs to whole bodies, from superficial vasculature to internal organs, from anatomy to functions, and will play an increasingly important role in biomedical research and clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Localizing the site of tumor origin for patients with lymphoid tumor is fairly difficult before the definitive detection of the primary tumor, which causes redundant imaging examinations and medical costs. To circumvent this obstacle, the emergence of the world's first total-body positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) provides a transformative platform for simultaneously static and dynamic human molecular imaging. Here, we reported a case of lymph node metastasis from an unknown primary tumor, and the primary tumor was detected with the aid of the total-body PET/CT scanner. This patient with right neck mass was subjected to static and dynamic PET scan, as the static PET imaging found irregular thickening of the upper rectal wall and the dynamic PET imaging recognized the associations between the lymph metastasis and the rectal tumor lesions. The diagnosis by the total-body PET/CT was confirmed by pathological examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A 3D printed geometric phantom was developed that can be scanned with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the geometric distortion and determine the relevant dose changes. Materials and Methods: A self-designed 3D printed photosensitive resin phantom was used, which adopts grid-like structures and has 822 1 cm2 squares. The scanning plan was delivered by three MRI scanners: the Elekta Unity MR-Linac 1.5T, GE Signa HDe 1.5T, and GE Discovery-sim 750 3.0T. The geometric distortion comparison was concentrated on two 1.5T MRI systems, whereas the 3.0T MRI was used as a supplemental experiment. The most central transverse images in each dataset were selected to demonstrate the plane distortion. Some mark points were selected to analyze the distortion in the 3D direction based on the plane geometric distortion. A treatment plan was created with the off-line Monaco system. Results: The distortion increases gradually from the center to the outside. The distortion range is 0.79 ± 0.40 mm for the Unity, 1.31 ± 0.56 mm for the GE Signa HDe, and 2.82 ± 1.48 mm for the GE Discovery-sim 750. Additionally, the geometric distortion slightly affects the actual planning dose of the radiotherapy. Conclusion: Geometric distortion increases gradually from the center to the outside. The distortion values of the Unity were smaller than those of the GE Signa HDe, and the Unity has the smallest geometric distortion. Finally, the Unity's dose variation best matched with the standard treatment plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]