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

Evaluation of Improvement Strategies for PET/CT Image Quality Using Generative Adversarial Networks

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence to Moo-Jin Jeong, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, 81, Irwon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 06351, Republic of Korea. Tel: +82-2-3410-6285, E-mail: moojin0217@naver.com

Volume 30, Number 2, Article 16, November 2026. Korean J Nucl Med Technol 2026;30(2):16. https://doi.org/10.12972/kjnmt.2026.30.2.16
Received on July 13, 2026, Revised on August 17, 2026, Accepted on August 25, 2026, Published on November 30, 2026.
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: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of noise control and quantitative restoration in low-dose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) images using a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN)-based Pix2Pix model, thereby assessing its clinical applicability for radiation dose reduction. Materials and Methods: Image data were acquired using a SiPM-based PET/CT scanner (GE Discovery MI) and a NEMA IEC Body Phantom. Based on the reference activity (18.50 MBq), list-mode data were collected at five reduced dose levels (5%, 10%, 25%, 50%, and 75%) according to radiopharmaceutical decay time. A total of 10,000 paired low-dose and Ground Truth (GT) dataset pairs were constructed using bootstrapping and data augmentation. Three reconstruction algorithms were evaluated: VPHD-S, VPFX-S, and QCFX-S-400. Structural and quantitative metrics, including SSIM, PSNR, Recovery Coefficient (RC), CNR, SNR, and Background Variability (BV%), were evaluated. Statistical equivalence with GT was verified using Bland-Altman analysis, Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), and paired t-tests. Statistical significance was verified using paired t-tests .Results: The Pix2Pix model significantly enhanced image quality and quantitative accuracy across all low-dose conditions. SSIM and PSNR steadily increased with dose levels, with the BSREM-based QCFX-S-400 algorithm demonstrating the highest restoration performance (SSIM: 0.967, PSNR: 37.289 dB at 75% dose). RC analysis revealed that the VPFX-S and QCFX-S-400 algorithms fully satisfied the EANM EARL2 guideline standards across all dose levels (5%–75%). Furthermore, predicted CNR and SNR were significantly higher than those of GT (). At 50% and 75% dose levels, the BV% of predicted images was lower than that of GT, demonstrating superior noise suppression. Conculsion: The Pix2Pix model successfully restored high-quality synthetic PET images while maintaining quantitative reliability even under ultra-low-dose conditions (5%–75%). Combining the deep learning model with a high-resolution reconstruction algorithm (QCFX-S-400) maximized noise reduction and quantitative accuracy for small lesions. This approach substantially reduces patient radiation dose in accordance with ALARA principles while preserving the diagnostic efficacy and safety of low-dose PET/CT image.
Keywords

Radiation Dose Reduction, GAN, Pix2Pix, Low-dose PET

Section