{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,28]],"date-time":"2026-10-28T14:32:47Z","timestamp":1793197967290,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"IOP Publishing","issue":"20","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,28]],"date-time":"2026-10-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1793145600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,28]],"date-time":"2026-10-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1793145600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/info\/page\/text-and-data-mining"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["iopscience.iop.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Phys. Med. Biol."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,28]]},"abstract":"Abstract<\/jats:title>\n \n Objective.<\/jats:italic>\n Quantitative preclinical positron emission tomography (PET) imaging plays an important role in translational research, yet variability across scanners, sites, and analysis workflows remains a major barrier to robust multi-centre studies. In this work, we developed and evaluated a harmonisation framework across a national network of preclinical PET facilities.\n Approach.<\/jats:italic>\n Six identical National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) NU 4-2008 image quality phantoms were manufactured and distributed to six sites, where they were imaged using local acquisition and reconstruction protocols across multiple scanner platforms.\n Main Results.<\/jats:italic>\n Substantial variability in contrast recovery, uniformity, and spill-over ratios was observed under site-specific conditions. Centralised automated re-analysis produced only minor reductions in variability, indicating that inter-user effects were relatively small, compared to site-specific protocol variations. In contrast, optimisation of reconstruction parameters led to a marked reduction in inter-scanner variability (an average of 60% reduction across larger rods), particularly for voxel-wise maximum contrast recovery coefficients (CRC\n \n \n \n <\/jats:tex-math>\n \n \n \n \n \n max<\/mml:mtext>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n \n vox<\/mml:mtext>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:msubsup>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n ), which are more sensitive to noise and reconstruction settings than the standard axial averaging NEMA CRC metric. Following harmonisation, the variability of CRC\n \n \n \n <\/jats:tex-math>\n \n \n \n \n \n max<\/mml:mtext>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n \n vox<\/mml:mtext>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:msubsup>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n approached and was lower that of conventional axial-averaged NEMA analysis (CRC\n \n \n \n <\/jats:tex-math>\n \n \n \n \n \n max<\/mml:mtext>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n \n avg<\/mml:mtext>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:msubsup>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n ), with reductions ranging 7%\u201333% across the 1\u20135 mm rods, demonstrating improved quantitative consistency even at the voxel level.\n Significance.<\/jats:italic>\n These findings show that scanner and site-specific protocol variations are the dominant factors for harmonisation in preclinical PET. By systematically evaluating acquisition, image reconstruction and analysis related sources of variability across a national network of heterogeneous preclinical PET systems, this work provides a practical framework for harmonisation. The proposed framework is conceptually aligned with clinical harmonisation initiatives such as EARL and provides a practical basis for the future development of harmonised performance ranges across preclinical scanners. This enables more reliable multi-centre studies and supports the use of quantitative, voxel-wise imaging biomarkers in translational research.\n <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1088\/1361-6560\/aeb46a","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T22:53:31Z","timestamp":1792018411000},"page":"205034","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1088\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A harmonisation framework for multi-centre preclinical PET imaging across a national research infrastructure"],"prefix":"10.1088","volume":"71","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0469-1972","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Georgios I","family":"Angelis","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The University of Sydney"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gary","family":"Cowin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The University of Queensland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2904-2664","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Tzongtyng","family":"Hung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of New South Wales"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8384-2403","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ingrid J G","family":"Burvenich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute"},{"name":"La Trobe University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michael","family":"De Veer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Monash University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4775-6943","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Kelly","family":"Smart","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7161-9367","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yaser H","family":"Gholami","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The University of Sydney"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0889-9052","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Karine","family":"Mardon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The University of Queensland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Zahra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hasar","family":"Hamze","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrew M","family":"Scott","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute"},{"name":"La Trobe University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7397-0364","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Steven R","family":"Meikle","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Sydney"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"266","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"pmbaeb46abib1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1007\/s00259-017-3740-2","type":"journal-article","article-title":"EANM\/EARL harmonization strategies in PET quantification: from daily practice to multicentre oncological studies","volume":"44","author":"Aide","year":"2017","journal-title":"Eur. 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Published on behalf of Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine by IOP Publishing Ltd","name":"copyright_information","label":"Copyright Information"},{"value":"2026-07-14","name":"date_received","label":"Date Received","group":{"name":"publication_dates","label":"Publication dates"}},{"value":"2026-10-14","name":"date_accepted","label":"Date Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_dates","label":"Publication dates"}},{"value":"2026-10-28","name":"date_epub","label":"Online publication date","group":{"name":"publication_dates","label":"Publication dates"}}]}}