Tinsu Pan, Ph.D., DABR, ABSNM
Department of Imaging Physics, Division of Diagnostic Imaging
About Dr. Pan
Dr. Pan received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1991, and post-doctoral training in Nuclear Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1991 to 1993. He continued on as a research faculty on quantification of SPECT until 1996 when he joined the Applied Science Laboratory of GE Healthcare, Waukesha, Wisconsin as a senior scientist on CT. He became a faculty in the Department of Imaging Physics at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas in 2004, is a professor in the Department of Imaging Physics and holds a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Radiation Physics at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Dr. Pan designed the cardiac CT and invented the 4D-CT on the GE LightSpeed CT during his tenure with GE. His design of 4D-CT is the most used 4D-CT in Radiation Oncology around the world. There are over 10,000 patients scanned with his 4D-CT at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He also invented average CT to help register the CT and PET images in the thorax,. The average CT has been applied in patient care at the University of Texas Medical School by Dr. K. Lance Gould for over 10,000 patients since 2006. He has also developed the world's first data-driven gated CT to mitigate the misregistration and motion artifacts on PET/CT. He has published 12 book chapters, 12 patents and over 139 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Pan is certified by the ABR and ABSNM.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Professor, Department of Imaging Physics, Division of Diagnostic Imaging, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Research Interests
His research aim is to improve the accuracy of quantitative imaging of the thorax on hybrid PET/CT imaging with data-driven gating (DDG). He invented and designed the first commercial 4D-CT. He contributed to the first application of 4D PET/CT, which incorporated 4D PET and 4D CT to improve the accuracy of quantitative imaging of the lung tumor. He also developed one of the first 4D Cone Beam CT’s to image the lung tumor at the treatment position for radiation therapy. He also invented average CT to improve registration of the PET/CT data. The average CT has found its use in treatment planning and image guided radiation therapy. His recent work has been on DDG PET/CT to further improve registration and reduce tumor motion in PET/CT.
Clinical Interests
PET CT
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 1991 | The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, PHD, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science |
| 1985 | National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu, TWN, MS, Electrical Engineering |
| 1983 | National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu, TWN, BS, Electrical Engineering |
Board Certifications
| 2007 | American Board of Radiology - Diagnostic Physics |
| 1996 | American Board of Science in Nuclear Medicine |
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Yu B, Ozdemir S, Dong Y, Shao W, Pan T, Shi K, Gong K. Robust whole-body PET image denoising using 3D diffusion models: evaluation across various scanners, tracers, and dose levels. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39912940.
- Shao HC, Mengke T, Pan T, Zhang Y. Real-time CBCT imaging and motion tracking via a single arbitrarily-angled x-ray projection by a joint dynamic reconstruction and motion estimation (DREME) framework. Phys Med Biol. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39746309.
- Zhao Y, Wang X, Phan J, Chen X, Lee A, Yu C, Huang K, Court LE, Pan T, Wang H, Wahid KA, Mohamed ASR, Naser M, Fuller CD, Yang J. Multi-modal segmentation with missing image data for automatic delineation of gross tumor volumes in head and neck cancers. Med Phys 51(10):7295-7307, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38896829.
- Pan T. Comments on the paper "Data-driven gating (DDG)-based motion match for improved CTAC registration. EJNMMI Physics. 2024;11(1):42.". EJNMMI Phys 11(1):88, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39432164.
- Pan T, Luo D. Data-driven gated positron emission tomography/computed tomography for radiotherapy. Phys Imaging Radiat Oncol 31:100601, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39040434.
- Shao HC, Mengke T, Pan T, Zhang Y. Dynamic CBCT imaging using prior model-free spatiotemporal implicit neural representation (PMF-STINR). Phys Med Biol. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38697195.
- Chen X, Zhao Y, Court LE, Wang H, Pan T, Phan J, Wang X, Ding Y, Yang J. SC-GAN: Structure-completion generative adversarial network for synthetic CT generation from MR images with truncated anatomy. Comput Med Imaging Graph 113:102353, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38387114.
- Sun P, Thomas MA, Luo D, Pan T. New full-counts phase-matched data-driven gated (DDG) PET/CT. Med Phys. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38648671.
- Gong K, Johnson K, El Fakhri G, Li Q, Pan T. PET image denoising based on denoising diffusion probabilistic model. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 51(2):358-368, 2024. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37787849.
- Sun P, Thomas MA, Luo D, Pan T. Correcting CT misregistration in data-driven gated (DDG) PET with PET self-gating and deformable image registration. Med Phys. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38285623.
- Lu Y, Wilson ZJ, Xu G, Xu Z, Pan T, Wei P. Diagnostic Performance of PSMA-Based 18 F-DCFPyL PET/CT in Prostate Cancer Patients After Definitive Treatment With PSA Level =0.2 ng/mL. Clin Nucl Med 48(12):1021-1027, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37801580.
- Shao HC, Mengke T, Pan T, Zhang Y. Dynamic CBCT Imaging using Prior Model-Free Spatiotemporal Implicit Neural Representation (PMF-STINR). ArXiv, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 38013886.
- Jang SI, Pan T, Li Y, Heidari P, Chen J, Li Q, Gong K. Spach Transformer: Spatial and Channel-wise Transformer Based on Local and Global Self-attentions for PET Image Denoising. IEEE Trans Med Imaging PP. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37995174.
- Zhao Y, Chen X, McDonald B, Yu C, Mohamed ASR, Fuller CD, Court LE, Pan T, Wang H, Wang X, Phan J, Yang J. A transformer-based hierarchical registration framework for multimodality deformable image registration. Comput Med Imaging Graph 108:102286, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37625307.
- Zhang Y, Shao HC, Pan T, Mengke T. Dynamic cone-beam CT reconstruction using spatial and temporal implicit neural representation learning (STINR). Phys Med Biol 68(4), 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36638543.
- Zhao Y, Wang H, Yu C, Court LE, Wang X, Wang Q, Pan T, Ding Y, Phan J, Yang J. Compensation cycle consistent generative adversarial networks (Comp-GAN) for synthetic CT generation from MR scans with truncated anatomy. Med Phys. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36698291.
- Chen LW, Yang SM, Chuang CC, Wang HJ, Chen YC, Lin MW, Hsieh MS, Antonoff MB, Chang YC, Wu CC, Pan T, Chen CM. Solid Attenuation Components Attention Deep Learning Model to Predict Micropapillary and Solid Patterns in Lung Adenocarcinomas on Computed Tomography. Ann Surg Oncol. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35789301.
- Lassen ML, Tzolos E, Pan T, Kwiecinski J, Cadet S, Dey D, Berman D, Slomka P. Anatomical validation of automatic respiratory motion correction for coronary 18F-sodium fluoride positron emission tomography by expert measurements from four-dimensional computed tomography. Med Phys. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35766454.
- Jimenez JE, Dai D, Xu G, Zhao R, Li T, Pan T, Wang L, Lin Y, Wang Z, Jaffray D, Hazle JD, Macapinlac HA, Wu J, Lu Y. Lesion-Based Radiomics Signature in Pretherapy 18F-FDG PET Predicts Treatment Response to Ibrutinib in Lymphoma. Clin Nucl Med 47(3):209-218, 2022. PMID: 35020640.
- Thomas MA, Meier JG, Mawlawi OR, Sun P, Pan T. Impact of acquisition time and misregistration with CT on data-driven gated PET. Phys Med Biol. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35313286.
- Hasegawa A, Ishihara T, Pan T, Ropp AM, Winkler M, Sneider MB. Impact of pixel value truncation on image quality of low dose chest CT. Med Phys, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35235216.
- Pan T, Thomas MA, Luo D. Data-driven gated (DDG) CT: An automated respiratory gating method to enable DDG PET/CT. Med Phys, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35324002.
- Koutroumpakis E, Xu T, Lopez-Mattei J, Pan T, Lu Y, Irizarry-Caro JA, Mohan R, Zhang X, Meng QH, Lin R, Xu T, Deswal A, Liao Z. Coronary artery calcium score on standard of care oncologic CT scans for the prediction of adverse cardiovascular events in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Front Cardiovasc Med 9:1071701, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36531700.
- Nguyen TT, Bhosale PR, Xu G, Pan T, Wei P, Lu Y. Comparison of PSMA-based 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT and pelvic multiparametric MRI for lesion detection in the pelvis in patients with prostate cancer. Am J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 12(6):166-179, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36636233.
- Hasegawa A, Ishihara T, Thomas MA, Pan T. Noise reduction profile: A new method for evaluation of noise reduction techniques in CT. Med Phys 49(1):186-200, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34837717.
- Thomas MA, Pan T. Data-driven gated PET/CT: implications for lesion segmentation and quantitation. EJNMMI Phys 8(1):64, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34453630.
- Hasegawa A, Ishihara T, Allan Thomas M, Pan T. Technical Note: Scanner dependence of adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction with 3D noise power spectrum central frequency and noise magnitude ratios. Med Phys 48(9):4993-5003, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34287936.
- Pan T, Lu Y, Thomas MA, Liao Z, Luo D. New data-driven gated PET/CT free of misregistration artifacts. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 109(5):1638-1646, 2021. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33186619.
- Teyateeti A, Khan B, Teyateeti A, Chen B, Bridhikitti J, Pan T, Peng W, Macapinlac HA, Lu Y. Diagnostic performance of F-18 fluciclovine PET/CT in post-radical prostatectomy prostate cancer patients with rising prostate-specific antigen level |< 0.5 ng/mL. Nucl Med Commun 41(9):906-915, 2020. PMID: 32796479.
- Tzolos E, Lassen ML, Pan, T, Kwiecinski J, Cadet S, Dey D, Dweck MR, Newby DE, Berman D, Slomka P. Respiration-averaged CT versus standard CT attenuation map for correction of (18)F-sodium fluoride uptake in coronary atherosclerotic lesions on hybrid PET/CT. J Nucl Cardiol, 2020.
- Doris MK, Otaki Y, Krishnan SK, Kwiecinski J, Rubeaux M, Alessio A, Pan T, Cadet S, Dey D, Dweck MR, Newby DE, Berman DS, Slomka PJ. Optimization of reconstruction and quantification of motion-corrected coronary PET-CT. J Nucl Cardiol 27(2):494-504, 2020. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29948889.
- Gould KL, Bui L, Kitkungvan D. Pan T. Roby AE, Nguyen, TT, Johnson NP. Pitfalls in quantitative myocardial PET perfusion I: Myocardial partial volume correction. J Nucl Cardiol:386-396, 2020.
- Chen CC, Shen TY, Peterson CB, Hung GU, Pan T. Comparison of ejection fraction calculation between CT and SPECT at high heart rate: A dynamic cardiac phantom study. J Nucl Cardiol. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 31907855.
- Pan T, Hasegawa A, Luo D, Wu CC, Vikram R. Technical Note: Impact on central frequency and noise magnitude ratios by advanced CT image reconstruction techniques. Med Phys. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31778233.
- Pan EY, Luo D, Pan T. Potential effects of low-dose average CT on cardiac implantable electronic devices. J Nucl Cardiol 26(4):1161-1165, 2019. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29344923.
- Olivia PD, Ng CS, Zhou S, Kappadath CS, Pan T, Kyle JA. Comparison of enhancement quantification from virtual unenhanced images to true unenhanced images in multiphase renal Dual-Energy computed tomography: A phantom study. J Appl Clin Med Phys 20(8):171-179, 2019. PMID: 31423728.
- Pan T, Einstein SA, Kappadath SC, Grogg KS, Lois Gomez C, Alessio AM, Hunter WC, El Fakhri G, Kinahan PE, Mawlawi OR. Performance evaluation of the 5-Ring GE Discovery MI PET/CT system using the national electrical manufacturers association NU 2-2012 Standard. Med Phys 46(7):3025-3033, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31069816.
- Dai D, Chuang HH, Macapinlac HA, Li T, Pan T. Correlation of fluorine 18-labeled sodium fluoride uptake and arterial calcification on whole-body PET/CT in cancer patients. Nucl Med Commun 40(6):604-610, 2019. PMID: 30688757.
Invited Articles
- Slomka PJ, Pan T, Germano G. Imaging moving heart structures with PET. J Nucl Cardiol 23(3):486-90, 2016. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25809083.
- Slomka PJ, Pan T, Germano G. Recent Advances and Future Progress in PET Instrumentation. Semin Nucl Med 46(1):5-19, 2016. PMID: 26687853.
- Slomka PJ, Pan T, Berman DS, Germano G. Advances in SPECT and PET hardware. Prog Cardiovasc Dis 57(6):566-78, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25721706.
- Pan T, Zaidi H.. Attenuation correction strategies for PET/CT and 4D PET/CT. PET Clinics 8:37-50, 2013.
- Zaidi H, Pan T. Recent advances in hybrid imaging for radiation therapy planning: the cutting edge. PET Clinics 6(2):207-226, 2011.
- Pan T, Mawlawi O. PET/CT in radiation oncology. Med Phys 35(11):4955-4966, 2008. PMID: 19070229.
Book Chapters
- Pan T. Motion artifacts and correction techniques in PET/CT. In: Basic Science of PET Imaging. Springer International Publishing: Switzerland, 379-396, 2016.
- Pan T. Four-Dimensional Cone-Beam Computed Tomography. In: Cone Beam Computed Tomography. CRC Press, 2014.
- Pan T. Helical 4D-CT and comparison with cine 4D-CT. In: 4D Modeling and Estimation of Respiratory Motion for Radiation Therapy. Springer, 25-41, 2013.
- Pan T. Four-Dimensional Computed Tomography. In: Technology and Applications (Devices, Circuits, and Systems). CRC Press, 2013.
Grant & Contract Support
| Date: | 2025 - 2030 |
| Title: | Stratify high-risk NSCLC patients after SBRT based on quantitative 4D-PET |
| Funding Source: | The University of Texas – Southwest |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| ID: | 1R01EB032814-01A1 |
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified March 26, 2025