Tracer Kinetic Modeling with R for Batch Processing of Dynamic PET Studies

Abstract

Dynamic PET imaging can provide information regarding metabolism, blood flow or other physiological properties of biological tissues beyond what static imaging may offer. A common technique for analyzing these images is compartmental modeling, whose mathematical resolution generally involves solving a set of differential equations using a non-linear least squares algorithm. This paper presents a guide that shows how the R programming language can be used to perform this analysis. To test the suitability of the proposed implementations, a comparison with the PMOD software package has been carried out. We show that the R programming language provides easy to use libraries that can be combined to implement solutions for different compartmental models whose results match those obtained using a commercial tool.