Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology (Korean J Nucl Med Technol)

Open access, Peer Reviewed

Indexed in KCI, DOAJ

pISSN 1229-9901
eISSN 2982-8406

Original article

Analysis of a Parenchymal Organ Volume-Based Dose Correction Model for 18F-FDG PET Radiopharmaceuticals

Department of Radiological Science, Shingu College

Correspondence to Joo-Young Lee, PhD. Department of Radiological Science, Shingu College. 377 Gwangmyeong-ro, Jungwon-gu, Seongnam, Republic of Korea(13174). Tel: +82-10-9259-9875, E-mail: ljy0706@shingu.ac.kr

Volume 30, Number 1, Article 10, May 2026. Korean J Nucl Med Technol 2026;30(1):10. https://doi.org/10.12972/kjnmt.2026.30.1.10
Received on April 20, 2026, Revised on May 16, 2026, Accepted on May 18, 2026, Published on May 31, 2026.
Copyright © 2026 Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose: Quantitative analysis and dose determination in 18F-FDG PET imaging are commonly based on total body weight; however, such approaches do not adequately account for individual differences in body composition, including fat and lean tissue proportions. This study aimed to propose and validate a radiopharmaceutical dose correction model based on organ volume derived from CT images, reflecting metabolically active tissue. Materials and Methods: Parenchymal organ volume data (liver, kidneys, and spleen) from 790 adults were extracted from the TotalSegmentator open-source dataset. A weighted sum model was established based on a standard adult (65 kg), incorporating a sensitivity (damping) factor and a clamping technique (±30%) to prevent excessive dose variation. Model optimization was performed using 5-fold cross-validation, and clinical feasibility was evaluated using CT data from nine patients. Results: At the optimal sensitivity parameter (S=0.5), more than 95% of the simulated cohort fell within the clinically recommended dose range (148~208 MBq), with a mean calculated dose of 178.00±16.65 MBq. External validation demonstrated that, despite substantial variations in liver volume (730~2,965 cm³), the predicted doses consistently remained within the safety range, effectively preventing both over-administration and under-administration of radiopharmaceuticals. Conclusion: The proposed organ volume-based model enables stable and reasonable dose estimation without relying on total body weight information. This approach may serve as a practical and safe alternative for personalized dose optimization and provides a foundational framework for future AI-based automated prescription systems.
Keywords

FDG-PET, Radiopharmaceutical Dosage, Organ Volume, Dosage Optimization, Open-source Data, Personalized Nuclear Medicine, ALARA

Section