Iranian Journal of Nuclear Medicine

Iranian Journal of Nuclear Medicine

A study on differentiation of extra-cardiac activity by Slit Slat collimation in Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Parvaneh Darkhor 1
Babak Mahmoudian 2
Esmaeil Gharepapagh 2
Seyed Rasoul Zakavi 3
Jalil Pirayesh Islamian 4
1 Immunology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
2 Departments of Radiology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
3 Nuclear Medicine Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
4 Departments of Medical Physics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: Myocardial perfusion SPECTby 99mTc-Sestamibi and 99mTc-Tetrofosmin radiopharmaceuticals usually presents a false significant increase in the radiotracer uptake in the inferior myocardium due to the uptake in organs such as liver, bowel, stomach and biliary system. The present study evaluated a suitable Slit angle for differentiating extra-cardiac activities by Slit Slat collimation.
Methods: The Siemens E.CAM gamma camera equipped with a Low Energy High Resolution (LEHR) collimator was simulated with the Simulating Medical Imaging Nuclear Detectors (SIMIND) Monte Carlo program. Following the verification of the simulation, a Slit Slat collimator was simulated for SPECT imaging of a NURBS-based Cardiac Torso (NCAT) phantom with different Slit angels ranged from 0 to 30 degrees. The reconstructed images were qualitatively assessed with blinded observer method by three nuclear medicine specialists.
Results:The improved differentiation of the bowel activity from the cardiac was obtained by a Slit-Slat collimator with the Slit angle of 7 degree. While for gastric activity differentiation an angle of 15 degree for the Slit was useful.

Conclusion: The results showed that Slit Slat collimation with 7 and 15 Slit angle provide a suitable differentiation of the bowel and gastric activities from the cardia, respectively.
Keywords
myocardium
NCAT
SPECT, Slit Slat collimator
SIMIND Monte Carlo
Subjects
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