Parametric images

Please note that parametric images in ECAT 6.3 or 7 format still contain the name of subject. Transfer of PET images using any media outside PET Centre and University Hospital is strictly forbidden, unless names are first removed; see Patient privacy protection.

Computation of parametric images

If you want to have a quick look at the produced parametric image, use ecat2tif to make a TIFF image of it. This image can be usually opened in all computer systems by just clicking the file.

Processing of parametric images

Parametric images are in the same format as the original dynamic PET image and can be processed with the same software. Also ROIs can be drawn and regional results can be calculated using the same software as for the original images. The resulting DFT files can be printed on screen using program dftlist or DFT files can be converted to result file format using program dft2res.

For creating images showing average or standard deviation values between two images use ecatavg or vox_sd. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) image can be calculated from two or more images with program vox_icc. For occupancy studies there is program vox_occu which creates the occupancy image from two PET images.

Histogram of parametric image

Histograms can be produced:

Extract pixel values with imgpext with option -s
Create histogram contents
Plot the histogram using Excel, Origin, or dft2svg

Examples

ECAT 6.3 format, unit depending on the calculation model. Each pixel values (color) corresponds to a certain physiological parameter value.

[¹¹C]flumazenil DV image computed with program imglhdv.

Animated Ki image

[¹⁸F]fluoro-deoxy-glucose (FDG) K_i image computed with program imglhki. Image planes (35 slices, thickness 4.25 mm) are animated in top-to-bottom order.