Published in:
01-02-2017 | Debate Article
Resolution recovery and noise regularization in nuclear cardiology
Published in: Journal of Nuclear Cardiology | Issue 1/2017
Login to get accessExcerpt
Radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) is one of the most established and validated diagnostic modalities in the evaluation of patients with hemodynamically significant coronary artery disease (CAD).1 – 4 Growing public awareness and media attention toward the radiation exposure raised appropriate concerns related to the potential harmful effects of the radionuclide use. In 2010, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) issued a statement titled “Recommendations for reducing radiation exposure in myocardial perfusion imaging” addressing these issues.5 The use of appropriateness criteria for MPI, decreased radiotracer activity administration, utilization of newer solid state cameras, and novel image reconstruction are some of the ways to diminish ionizing radiation exposure in patients and healthcare professionals. This article will address image reconstruction possibilities for myocardial perfusion imaging (Figures 1, 2).
Figure 1
Rest/stress MPI procedure performed on a female patient with a BMI of 37 kg/m2. Relatively low-dose study performed with 8/24 mCi of Tc-99m tetrofosmin. Rest images were acquired at 30 seconds/step (16 minutes) and stress images were acquired at 20 seconds/step (12 minutes), both using 3-degree steps over 180-degree orbit. Images were processed with both FBP and Evolution RR. Image quality is improved with RR
Figure 2
Rest/stress MPI procedure performed on a male patient with a BMI of 29 kg/m2. Study performed with 12/36 mCi of Tc-99m tetrofosmin. Rest images were acquired at 15 seconds/step (8 minutes) and stress images were acquired at 10 seconds/step (6 minutes), both using 3-degree steps over 180-degree orbit. Images processed with Evolution RR demonstrate optimal quality
× ![]()
× ![]()
…