Objective  To investigate the feasibility of whole-body ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT rapid scanning in patients with malignant tumors using the VIP Record acquisition mode.

Methods  Imaging data of 40 patients with malignant tumors who underwent whole-body ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT using the VIP Record acquisition mode at Tianjin Union Medical Center from October 2021 to August 2023 were retrospectively analyzed, including 17 males and 23 females, aged (65.5±10.0) years, with an age range of 42–85 years. Utilizing 120 s/bed as the "gold standard", we reprocessed the original data to generate PET/CT images at 90 s/bed, 60 s/bed, and 30 s/bed. Then, we assessed the image quality, lesion detectability, and target-to-background ratio (T/B) across different scan durations. Repeated measures ANOVA should be used to compare measurement data among groups that conform to a normal distribution. For measurement data that do not conform to a normal distribution, the rank-sum test should be used.

Results  The image quality scores for 120 s/bed, 90 s/bed, 60 s/bed, and 30 s/bed had image quality scores of 3.0 (3.0, 3.0), 3.0 (3.0, 3.0), 2.0 (2.0, 2.0), and 1.0 (1.0, 1.0) points, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (χ²=108.00, P<0.001). By contrast, the image quality scores for 120 s/bed, 90 s/bed, and 60 s/bed were all higher than those for 30 s/bed, and the differences were statistically significant (Z=−2.43, −2.28, −1.30, all P<0.001). The image quality scores for 120 s/bed and 90 s/bed were higher than those for 60 s/bed, and the differences were statistically significant (Z=−1.13, −0.98, both P<0.001). The image quality score of 120 s/bed was comparable to that of 90 s/bed, and the difference was not statistically significant (Z=−0.15, P=0.603). A total of 136 lesions were identified on PET/CT images acquired at the 120 s/bed. The PET/CT images acquired at the 90 s/bed and 60 s/bed detected all lesions, resulting in a 100% (136/136) detection rate. On the contrary, the PET/CT images acquired at the 30 s/bed detected 134 lesions, yielding a detection rate of 98.5% (134/136). The T/B of 30 s/bed, 60 s/bed, and 90 s/bed images were 4.09±2.62, 4.12±2.46, and 4.11±2.48, respectively, compared with the 120 s/bed image (T/B=4.14±2.49), there was no significant difference (F=0.22, P=0.885).

Conclusion  The technical feasibility of rapid whole-body ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT imaging in patients with malignant tumors can be achieved by combining the 60 s/bed or 30 s/bed acquisition scheme with the 120 s/bed for a focused liver scan.