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Phantom Criteria (Revised 8-2-2024)

Revision History



Nuclear Medicine Planar Only Images 

(Uniformity)

Tc99m or Co57

Intrinsic or System Uniformity

Excellent: No visible nonuniformity or artifacts in the images.

Good: Minor variation in intensity or artifacts visible in the images but they are unlikely to affect interpretation of clinical studies.

Satisfactory: Some variation in intensity or artifacts visible in the images but they are unlikely to affect interpretation of clinical studies.

Marginal: Significant variation in intensity is visible and it may affect interpretation of high count density clinical studies.

Fail: Non-uniformities are of such magnitude that they probably will affect the interpretation of clinical studies and the instrument should not be used for clinical studies. 

Nuclear Medicine Planar Only Images 

(4-quadrant bar phantom)

Tc99m or Co57

Intrinsic spatial resolution images

Satisfactory: 2.5 to 2.9 mm bars are resolved in one quadrant of a four quadrant pattern and they have low contrast

Marginal: 3.0 to 3.4 mm bars resolved in one quadrant of a four quadrant pattern 

System spatial resolution images

Satisfactory: 3.0 to 3.4 mm bars are resolved in one quadrant of a four quadrant pattern

Marginal: 3.5 to 3.9 mm bars resolved in one quadrant of a four quadrant pattern

Tl201, Ga67, or In111

Intrinsic spatial resolution images

Satisfactory: 3.0 to 3.4 mm bars are resolved in one quadrant of a four quadrant pattern and they have low contrast

Marginal: 3.5 to 3.9 mm bars resolved in one quadrant of a four quadrant pattern

System spatial resolution images

Satisfactory: 3.5 to 3.9 mm bars are resolved in one quadrant of a four quadrant pattern

Marginal: 4.0 to 4.4 mm bars resolved in one quadrant of a four quadrant pattern

ACR Phantom Spatial Resolution Tc99m using the ACR-approved SPECT Phantom 

(At least 75% of the rods in a segment must be visualized to qualify a set as “seen”)

General purpose parallel hole collimators

Satisfactory: 9.5 mm rods resolved with high contrast

Marginal: 9.5 mm rods resolved with low contrast

High resolution parallel hole collimators

Satisfactory: 7.9 mm rods resolved with high contrast

Marginal: 7.9 mm rods resolved with low contrast

ACR Phantom Spatial Resolution Tl-201, Ga-67, or In111 using the ACR-approved SPECT Phantom 

(At least 50% of the rods in a segment must be visualized to qualify a set as “seen”)

General purpose parallel hole collimators (Tl201) 

 OR Medium energy general purpose parallel hole collimators (Ga-67 or In111) 

Satisfactory: 11.1 mm rods visible 

Marginal: 12.7 mm rods visible

High resolution parallel hole collimators (Tl-201) 

Satisfactory: 9.5 mm rods visible

Marginal: 11.1 mm rods visible 

Nuclear Medicine SPECT Phantom (Deluxe Phantom - Small phantom must meet same criteria) 

(If a phantom receives 2 scores of Marginal this equals a FAIL)

Tc99m SPECT

Uniformity (GP and HR)

Satisfactory [3]: Artifacts are seen in only a few slices of the complete set but are not thought to be clinically significant.

Marginal [2]: Significant artifacts visualized in one or more slices but they probably would not affect the interpretation of clinical studies. 

Fail [1]: Strong artifacts visualized in one or more slices of such magnitude that they probably will affect the interpretation of clinical studies and the instrument should not be used for clinical studies. 

Spatial Resolution (GP and HR) 

Satisfactory: 11.1 mm rods resolved with low contrast

Marginal: 12.7 mm rods resolved with high contrast

Contrast (GP and HR)

Satisfactory: 19.1 mm and larger spheres resolved with high contrast  

Marginal: 25.4 mm and larger spheres resolved with low contrast

PET Phantom

(If a phantom receives 2 scores of Marginal this equals a FAIL) 

Contrast

Satisfactory: 12 mm vial is resolved with low contrast; larger vials resolved with high contrast

Marginal: 16 mm vial is resolved with acceptable contrast; larger vials resolved with high contrast 

Spatial Resolution

Satisfactory: 9.5 mm rods are resolved with low contrast; larger rods are resolved with high contrast

Marginal: 11.1 mm rods are resolved with low contrast; larger rods are resolved with high contrast

Uniformity

Satisfactory: Artifacts are seen in only a few slices of the complete set but are not thought to be clinically significant.

Marginal: Strong artifacts are seen in a small number of slices.

PASS/FAIL CRITERIA for SUV Measurements 

Mean Bkgd: 0.90 – 1.10

25 mm cylinder: >1.87 - <2.91

16/25 ratio: >.7




Revision History for this Article

Date

Section

Description of Revision(s)

1-6-20

All

Article created; FAQs incorporated; No criteria changes

8-24-20

Nuclear Medicine SPECT Phantom

Added clarification: Deluxe Phantom-Small Phantom must meet same criteria

8-11-2021

Nuclear Medicine Planar Only Images (Uniformity)

Added table

11-11-2022

SUV Measurements

Updated PASS/FAIL Criteria for SUV Measurements

6-21-2023

SUV Measurements

Updated PASS/FAIL Criteria for SUV Measurements

8-2-2024

SUV Measurements

Removed the SUV Measurement PASS/FAIL Criteria that expired on 12/31/2023




Previous: Phantom Testing: PETNext: Passing Results


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