Analysis of renal perfusion from [O]H2O PET studies: Pixel-by-pixel calculation with and without RBV estimation

By visual inspection, both models produce good quality RBF images. However, comparison of regional averages to RBF values that were calculated from regional TACs (Figure C1), show that RBV must be included in the model (three-parameter model) if similar RBF estimates are required. RBF may be very sensitive to RBV, and if RBV is not fitted as the third parameter, or not corrected based on [O]CO scan, it may lead to increased variability in addition to strong overestimation of RBF (Figure 1). Pixel-by-pixel and regionally estimated RBV values seem to be well correlated (Figure C2). Examples of RBF and RBV images calculated with the two methods are shown in Figures C3-5.