PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Antonios Tzortzakakis
AU  - Maria Holstensson
AU  - Eva Hagel
AU  - Mattias Karlsson
AU  - Rimma Axelsson
TI  - Intra- and Interobserver Agreement of SUV SPECT Quantitative SPECT/CT Processing Software, Applied in Clinical Settings for Patients with Solid Renal Tumors
AID  - 10.2967/jnmt.118.223297
DP  - 2019 Sep 01
TA  - Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
PG  - 258--262
VI  - 47
IP  - 3
4099  - http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/47/3/258.short
4100  - http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/47/3/258.full
SO  - J. Nucl. Med. Technol.2019 Sep 01; 47
AB  - Quantification tools for SPECT/CT are a field of ongoing research among hybrid imaging techniques. A recent multicenter study evaluating SUV SPECT software on phantoms showed that quantitative SPECT/CT is reproducible in Hybrid Viewer software. The aim of our study was to evaluate the intra- and interobserver agreement of quantitative SUV SPECT measurements in clinical settings for patients with solid renal tumors. Methods: The evaluation was part of a study that examined the role of 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT/CT in the characterization of solid kidney tumors and the differentiation of renal oncocytomas from renal cell carcinomas. Quantitative evaluation of SUV measurements was performed in Hybrid Viewer PDR, version 2.5. Forty-eight renal lesions were identified and examined twice by 2 independent readers. The agreement of the SUV measurements, concerning renal tumors and adjacent renal parenchyma, was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: ICC for SUVmax measurements by the same reader was 97%–99% for solid renal tumors and 92%–98% for ipsilateral healthy renal parenchyma. ICC for SUVmax measurements between readers was 87%–89% for solid renal tumors and 72%–73% for ipsilateral healthy renal parenchyma. Estimated ICC for SUVmean measurements of solid renal tumors was 95%–98% for the same reader and 86%–89% between readers. Similar results were found for SUVpeak measurements. Conclusion: The high ICCs indicate a strong agreement among SUV measurements for patients with solid renal lesions undergoing 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT/CT, not only for measurements by the same reader but also for measurements between 2 different readers.