Generative Consistency Models for Estimation of Kinetic Parametric Image Posteriors in Total-Body PET

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhao, Yun, Gu, Qinlin, Angelis, Georgios I., Reader, Andrew J., Fan, Yanan, Meikle, Steven R.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Zhao, Yun
Gu, Qinlin
Angelis, Georgios I.
Reader, Andrew J.
Fan, Yanan
Meikle, Steven R.
author_facet Zhao, Yun
Gu, Qinlin
Angelis, Georgios I.
Reader, Andrew J.
Fan, Yanan
Meikle, Steven R.
contents Dynamic total body positron emission tomography (TB-PET) makes it feasible to measure the kinetics of all organs in the body simultaneously which may lead to important applications in multi-organ disease and systems physiology. Since whole-body kinetics are highly heterogeneous with variable signal-to-noise ratios, parametric images should ideally comprise not only point estimates but also measures of posterior statistical uncertainty. However, standard Bayesian techniques, such as Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), are computationally prohibitive at the total body scale. We introduce a generative consistency model (CM) that generates samples from the posterior distributions of the kinetic model parameters given measured time-activity curves and arterial input function. CM is able to collapse the hundreds of iterations required by standard diffusion models into just 3 denoising steps. When trained on 500,000 physiologically realistic two-tissue compartment model simulations, the CM produces similar accuracy to MCMC (median absolute percent error < 5%; median K-L divergence < 0.5) but is more than five orders of magnitude faster. CM produces more reliable Ki images than the Patlak method by avoiding the assumption of irreversibility, while also offering valuable information on statistical uncertainty of parameter estimates and the underlying model. The proposed framework removes the computational barrier to routine, fully Bayesian parametric imaging in TB-PET and is readily extensible to other tracers and compartment models.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_13614
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Generative Consistency Models for Estimation of Kinetic Parametric Image Posteriors in Total-Body PET
Zhao, Yun
Gu, Qinlin
Angelis, Georgios I.
Reader, Andrew J.
Fan, Yanan
Meikle, Steven R.
Medical Physics
Dynamic total body positron emission tomography (TB-PET) makes it feasible to measure the kinetics of all organs in the body simultaneously which may lead to important applications in multi-organ disease and systems physiology. Since whole-body kinetics are highly heterogeneous with variable signal-to-noise ratios, parametric images should ideally comprise not only point estimates but also measures of posterior statistical uncertainty. However, standard Bayesian techniques, such as Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), are computationally prohibitive at the total body scale. We introduce a generative consistency model (CM) that generates samples from the posterior distributions of the kinetic model parameters given measured time-activity curves and arterial input function. CM is able to collapse the hundreds of iterations required by standard diffusion models into just 3 denoising steps. When trained on 500,000 physiologically realistic two-tissue compartment model simulations, the CM produces similar accuracy to MCMC (median absolute percent error < 5%; median K-L divergence < 0.5) but is more than five orders of magnitude faster. CM produces more reliable Ki images than the Patlak method by avoiding the assumption of irreversibility, while also offering valuable information on statistical uncertainty of parameter estimates and the underlying model. The proposed framework removes the computational barrier to routine, fully Bayesian parametric imaging in TB-PET and is readily extensible to other tracers and compartment models.
title Generative Consistency Models for Estimation of Kinetic Parametric Image Posteriors in Total-Body PET
topic Medical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.13614