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Sensitivity, Resolution and Image Quality with a Multi-Head SPECT Camera

Georgetown University Hospital, Department of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine, Washington, DC
University of Iowa School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Iowa City, Iowa

Correspondence: For reprints contact: Frederic H. Fahey, DSc, PET Center, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1061.

ABSTRACT

This investigation sought to determine which collimation factors were most important in providing superior image quality with a three-headed SPECT device. The relationship between sensitivity, resolution and SPECT image quality was studied. Two different sets of parallel-hole collimators were used. The ultra high-resolution collimators have higher spatial resolution (8.9 versus 11.0 mm), but only 55% of the sensitivity of the high-resolution collimators. A phantom with hot rods was imaged with both collimator sets. Observers compared images with the ultrahigh-resolution collimators to images of varying counts with the high-resolution collimators and determined which high-resolution images matched the ultra high resolution images in image quality. Eleven patient studies were acquired with both collimator sets for equal time, and observers chose which image set they preferred. Transverse images of brain and liver studies were simulated with varying resolution and counts and subjectively compared. The phantom study indicated that the improvement in resolution led to image quality comparable to increasing the number of counts by a factor of 2.5 to 3.4. The clinical studies showed that the ultra high-resolution collimators were preferred in a large majority of the cases. These trends were also seen in the simulation study. These results confirm that higher resolution collimators should be used with multihead SPECT devices. The improvement in resolution more than compensates for the loss in sensitivity, leading to an overall improvement in image quality.

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