Cardiac PET software applications can produce significantly different results in myocardial blood-flow analysis, a multinational research team reported in the November issue of JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.
In a study that compared 10 different applications for estimating myocardial blood flow and myocardial flow reserve from rubidium-82 PET studies, a team led by Dr. Sergey Nesterov of the University of Turku's Turku Pet Centre found that two different applications could produce values that differ by 100% or more from the same heart scan (JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, November 2014, Vol. 7:11, pp. 1119-1127).
As a result, doctors should never compare cardiac PET results without accounting for their mathematical origin, Nesterov said in a statement. Despite the variability between some applications, the researchers did find, however, that the majority use the same model and can be utilized interchangeably.
The project, called RUBY-10, involved 26 researchers affiliated with 16 labs in 11 countries in Europe, North America, and Asia. The researchers are now evaluating the performance of software with other PET tracers.
