Seminars in Nuclear Medicine
Volume 38, Issue 3 , Pages 177-198, May 2008

Technological Development and Advances in Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography/Computed Tomography

  • Youngho Seo, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
    • Joint Bioengineering Graduate Group, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
    • ,
  • Carina Mari, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
    • Nuclear Medicine Service, San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, San Francisco, CA.
    • ,
  • Bruce H. Hasegawa, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
    • Joint Bioengineering Graduate Group, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
    • Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress reprint requests to Bruce H. Hasegawa, PhD, UCSF Physics Research Laboratory, 185 Berry Street, Suite 350, San Francisco, CA 94107.

Single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) has emerged during the past decade as a means of correlating anatomical information from CT with functional information from SPECT. The integration of SPECT and CT in a single imaging device facilitates anatomical localization of the radiopharmaceutical to differentiate physiological uptake from that associated with disease and patient-specific attenuation correction to improve the visual quality and quantitative accuracy of the SPECT image. The first clinically available SPECT/CT systems performed emission-transmission imaging using a dual-headed SPECT camera and a low-power x-ray CT subsystem. Newer SPECT/CT systems are available with high-power CT subsystems suitable for detailed anatomical diagnosis, including CT coronary angiography and coronary calcification that can be correlated with myocardial perfusion measurements. The high-performance CT capabilities also offer the potential to improve compensation of partial volume errors for more accurate quantitation of radionuclide measurement of myocardial blood flow and other physiological processes and for radiation dosimetry for radionuclide therapy. In addition, new SPECT technologies are being developed that significantly improve the detection efficiency and spatial resolution for radionuclide imaging of small organs including the heart, brain, and breast, and therefore may provide new capabilities for SPECT/CT imaging in these important clinical applications.

To access this article, please choose from the options below

Login to an existing account or Register a new account.

  • Purchase this article for 31.50 USD (You must login/register to purchase this article)

    Online access for 24 hours. The PDF version can be downloaded as your permanent record.

  • Subscribe to this title

    Get unlimited online access to this article and all other articles in this title 24/7 for one year.

  • Claim access now

    For current subscribers with Society Membership or Account Number.

  • Visit SciVerse ScienceDirect to see if you have access via your institution.
 

 This work was supported by grants 1 R21 HL083073, 5 R21 EB006373, 5 K25 CA114254, 5 R01 EB000288, 2 R44 CA095936, 4 R44 EB001685, 2 R44 H083494, 2 R44 ES012361, and 1 R41 AG030241 from the National Institutes of Health; FG02-07ER84903 from the Department of Energy; dig06-10210 from the UC Discovery Grant Program; A107695 from the University of California, Berkeley; award number 02821-6 from the Thrasher Research Fund; and from General Electric Healthcare, Inc, Philips Medical Systems, Inc, and Radiation Monitoring Devices.

PII: S0001-2998(08)00020-2

doi:10.1053/j.semnuclmed.2008.01.001

Seminars in Nuclear Medicine
Volume 38, Issue 3 , Pages 177-198, May 2008

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution