Small average differences in attenuation corrected images between men and women in myocardial perfusion scintigraphy: a novel normal stress database

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The American Society of Nuclear Cardiology and the Society of Nuclear Medicine state that incorporation of attenuation-corrected (AC) images in myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) will improve image quality, interpretive certainty, and diagnostic accuracy. However, commonly used software packages for MPS usually include normal stress databases for non-attenuation corrected (NC) images but not for attenuation-corrected (AC) images. The aim of the study was to develop and compare different normal stress databases for MPS in relation to NC vs. AC images, male vs. female gender, and presence vs. absence of obesity. The principal hypothesis was that differences in mean count values between men and women would be smaller with AC than NC images, thereby allowing for construction and use of gender-independent AC stress database.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Normal stress perfusion databases were developed with data from 126 male and 205 female patients with normal MPS. The following comparisons were performed for all patients and separately for normal weight vs. obese patients: men vs. women for AC; men vs. women for NC; AC vs. NC for men; and AC vs. NC for women.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When comparing AC for men vs. women, only minor differences in mean count values were observed, and there were no differences for normal weight vs. obese patients. For all other analyses major differences were found, particularly for the inferior wall.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results support the hypothesis that it is possible to use not only gender independent but also weight independent AC stress databases.</p

Quantification of Myocardial Perfusion: SPECT

Myocardial perfusion imaging with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is important for the management of patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease. Stress myocardial perfusion images may be interpreted by visual inspection or by quantitative analysis. The use of visual inspection alone may introduce considerable observer variability and clinical usefulness of myocardial perfusion imaging may not be consistently reproduced in many laboratories using visual analysis. Relative myocardial distribution of imaging agents on SPECT images can be quantified and compared with normal data files by computer processing. Quantification of myocardial perfusion images provides a reproducible measure of the extent of perfusion abnormalities and defect reversibility. The quantification of myocardial perfusion images improves not only the overall diagnostic yield but also enhances reliability, accuracy, confidence, and reproducibility of interpretation. This review illustrates the current status and the future perspectives of myocardial perfusion quantification by SPECT imaging. {\textcopyright} 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC