Mathematical modeling of concentration/ time-activity profiles of radiotracers in positron emission tomography

ABSTRACT

As an advancement in medical sciences, radioactive tracers are used in nuclear medicine, not only to understand the flow process and to make optimal diagnosis but also for staging, monitoring and evaluation of response to therapy. To this outlook, four mathematical models are devised to study the diffusion phenomena and kinetics of radiotracers injected intravenously into the bloodstream of the human body. The models are developed with the aim of studying and estimating the flow and concentration profiles of the radiotracer in biological tissues and studying the kinetics of reversible and irreversible tracers (i.e. 18F-Fludeoxyglucose), respectively. These profiles are helpful to determine the appropriate dose of the radiotracer to be administered, in positron emission tomography for the diagnostics, anticipation and treatment of various diseases. Finally, the results are simulated graphically and are also compared with the published/experimental work to check the feasibility and validity of the formulated models.

KEYWORDS:

• Positron emission tomography
• tracer-Kinetic modeling
• Crank-Nicholson method

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).