Ultra-low foetal radiation exposure in ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT imaging with a long axial field-of-view PET/CT system

Purpose: Long axial field-of-view (LAFOV) PET/CT systems enable PET/CT scans with reduced injected activities because of improved sensitivity. With this study, we aimed to examine the foetal radiation dose from an ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT scan on a LAFOV PET/CT system with reduced injected activity.

Methods: Two pregnant women were retrospectively included and received an ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT scan on a LAFOV PET/CT system with an intravenous bolus injection of 0.30 MBq/kg. Foetal radiation exposure from the PET was estimated using dose conversion factors from three published papers. Radiation exposure from the CT scans was estimated using CT-Expo.

Results: Foetal radiation dose from the PET scan ranged between 0.11 and 0.44 mGy. Foetal radiation exposure from the CT scan ranged between < 0.10 - 0.90 mGy depending if the foetus was included in the field-of-view.

Conclusion: Foetal radiation dose could be reduced to < 1.5 mGy when scanning pregnant patients on a LAFOV PET/CT system. The radiation dose to the foetus was reduced significantly in our study due to the increased sensitivity of the LAFOV PET/CT system.