Extended brilliance workspace 3

Two weeks after VX2 inoculation, the lung tumors had reached a size of almost 30–40 mm, and were thus suitable for preclinical research [22 (link)]. To assess tumor formation in each group, 12 randomly selected rabbits (3 per group) underwent 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (¹⁸FDG-PET) using a Gemini TF 16-slice PET scanner (Philips Medical Systems, Cleveland, OH, USA). All rabbits were fasted for at least 12 hours before scanning and were anesthetized with tiletamine-zolazepam and xylazine as described above. Each rabbit received approximately 37 MBq (1 mCi) ¹⁸FDG through the auricular vein, and chest PET images were acquired over 60 min. PET images were displayed and analyzed at a dedicated workstation (Extended Brilliance Workspace 3.5; Philips Medical Systems).

The heart rate and the heart rate variability were evaluated using semiautomatic software on the workstation (Extended Brilliance Workspace 3.5, Philips Healthcare, Cleveland, OH, USA). The workstation provides a mean value for heart rate during ECG-gated CT acquisition, as well as the standard deviation of the heart rate. The standard deviation of the heart rate in a given patient was the parameter used for heart rate variability measurement.