Methods and models for the characterization of arterial input function in dynamic PET studies

Dynamic PET quantfication often involves the cannulation of the radial artery of the patient, a practice considered invasive and cause of discomfort for the patient. For this reason in this study two alternatives to the arterial sampling, called ABIF and SIME respectively, were analyzed. The first consists in replacing the individual arterial measurements with the average of the AIFs of a population of subjects previously acquired; the second consists in estimating the input function and the tissue parameters of multiple ROIs simultaneously. Both methods were tested and a new model for the AIF description was proposed