RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 A headrest made of “extruded polystyrene” reduces the influence of attenuation correction on the human brain single photon emission computed tomography images JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology JO J. Nucl. Med. Technol. FD Society of Nuclear Medicine SP jnmt.122.264729 DO 10.2967/jnmt.122.264729 A1 Makoto Ohba A1 Yasuaki Kokubo A1 Koji Suzuki A1 Masafumi Kanoto A1 Yukihiko Sonoda YR 2022 UL http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/early/2022/11/09/jnmt.122.264729.abstract AB Previous reports suggest that a headrest made of carbon significantly influences cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the anterior and posterior regions by image reconstruction and attenuation correction (AC). The present study aimed to develop a headrest that reduces the influence of the AC process on human brain single photon emission computed tomography. Methods: To validate the performance of a headrest made of extruded polystyrene (XPS), 10 healthy controls and 43 patients with cerebrovascular disease underwent 99mTc-ECD SPECT using a carbon headrest and an XPS headrest. We evaluated the anterior and middle/posterior ratio of the brain regions in the filtered back projection (FBP)-Chang AC, ordered subset expectation maximization method (OS-EM)-Chang AC, OS-EM-CT-based AC (CTAC), and OS-EM No-AC (no correction for attenuation). Results: The anterior/posterior ratio with the carbon headrest was significantly higher than that with the XPS headrest in FBP-Chang AC and OSEM-Chang AC (P<0.001). There was no significant difference between the materials in OSEM-CTAC and OSEM-No-AC. The middle/posterior ratio did not differ to a statistically significant extent in any correction process. Conclusion: Brain SPECT image acquisition with a headrest made of XPS in processing by the FBP/OSEM Chang AC method enables the influence of the headrest to be reduced in brain SPECT image, especially in anterior and posterior brain regions.