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This Article Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Ali, I. Articles by Wells, R.G. PubMed Articles by Ali, I. Articles by Wells, R.G.

Single photon emission computer tomography perfusion imaging in half the time

¹ Nuclear Cardiology, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; ² GE Healthcare, Waukesha, Wisconsin

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Objectives: Reducing acquisition time improves patient throughput, increases camera efficiency and reduces costs, but also increases image noise. Newly available software controls the effects of noise by maximum a posteriori reconstruction while maintaining resolution with resolution-recovery methods. This study compares half-time gated cardiac SPECT processed with this new software to full-time acquisition processed with ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM).

Methods: 54 consecutive patients (29 men, mean age 57) underwent 1-day 8 mCi rest/24 mCi stress Tc-99m-Tetrofosmin gated SPECT (Infinia-Hawkeye, GE Healthcare). Half-time images (rest 7.5 min, stress 6.0 min) were processed with Evolution for Cardiac^TM software (GE Healthcare). Full-time acquisition followed immediately (rest 12.5 min, stress 12.5min – standard clinical OSEM processing). Images were compared without attenuation correction. Two experienced physicians blindly assessed SSS and LVEF for all images, and produced a clinical interpretation on a scale of 1 (normal) to 5 (abnormal).

Results: The half-time images correlated well with the full-time images for all measurements (SSS: ICCr=0.69, p<0.01, mean difference=-0.6; LVEF: ICCr=0.91, p<0.01, mean difference=-1.5; clinical diagnosis: ICCr=0.78, p<0.01, mean difference=-0.3). The clinical evaluation was identical in 49 studies and similar in one other: normal (half-time) vs. probably normal (full-time). In the remaining 4 studies, half-time imaging produced new reversible defects. These last 4 studies require further evaluation with an independent standard such as PET or coronary angiography.

Conclusions: Image acquisition time was reduced by 46% and the half-time images were diagnostically similar to full-time images in 92% (50/54) of cases.

This Article Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Ali, I. Articles by Wells, R.G. PubMed Articles by Ali, I. Articles by Wells, R.G.