SPECT Quality Improvement

Abstract

Objective: Obtaining quality SPECT data is a vital component of the total SPECT procedure. A patient study was undertaken to document the various causes of artifacts in order to pinpoint methods that will lead to an improvement in the quality of SPECT images.

Methods: My institution’s laboratory monitored 1,000 stress/reinjection SPECT thallium patient studies to determine how to improve SPECT imaging.

Results: Patient motion was identified as a major potential cause of imaging artifacts. Heart shift due to patient motion may result in false-positive studies.

Conclusion: Large improvements in SPECT imaging quality can be obtained by adherence to a few meaningful technical points and maneuvers.