Subhash Kheruka, Sana Al-Rashdi, Naema Al-Maymani, Anas Al-Balushi, Tasnim Al-Raii, Noura Al-Makhmari, Vipin Jayakrishnan, Anjali Jain, Khulood Al-Riyami, Rashid Al-Sukaiti
{"title":"Nonuniformity in a Certified <sup>68</sup>Ge PET Cylinder Phantom: Implications for Normalization Quality Assurance.","authors":"Subhash Kheruka, Sana Al-Rashdi, Naema Al-Maymani, Anas Al-Balushi, Tasnim Al-Raii, Noura Al-Makhmari, Vipin Jayakrishnan, Anjali Jain, Khulood Al-Riyami, Rashid Al-Sukaiti","doi":"10.2967/jnmt.125.271634","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Quantitative PET imaging depends critically on the accuracy of system normalization and uniformity calibration. We report a manufacturing defect in a certified RadQual <sup>68</sup>Ge PET cylinder phantom (BMCY68-2030A-03), a standard reference used for normalization and daily quality control in Siemens Biograph Vision scanners. A localized hot spot was identified within the phantom, producing integral uniformity greater than 8.5% (acceptance limit ≤5%). The nonuniformity was intrinsic to the phantom material and rendered it unsuitable for quantitative use. This finding underscores the importance of independent acceptance testing of long-lived <sup>68</sup>Ge standards before clinical deployment to prevent calibration bias and ensure reliable SUV quantification.</p>","PeriodicalId":16548,"journal":{"name":"Journal of nuclear medicine technology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2026-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of nuclear medicine technology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2967/jnmt.125.271634","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"RADIOLOGY, NUCLEAR MEDICINE & MEDICAL IMAGING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Quantitative PET imaging depends critically on the accuracy of system normalization and uniformity calibration. We report a manufacturing defect in a certified RadQual 68Ge PET cylinder phantom (BMCY68-2030A-03), a standard reference used for normalization and daily quality control in Siemens Biograph Vision scanners. A localized hot spot was identified within the phantom, producing integral uniformity greater than 8.5% (acceptance limit ≤5%). The nonuniformity was intrinsic to the phantom material and rendered it unsuitable for quantitative use. This finding underscores the importance of independent acceptance testing of long-lived 68Ge standards before clinical deployment to prevent calibration bias and ensure reliable SUV quantification.