@article {Keidar2018, author = {Zohar Keidar and Jonathan Sachs and Ora Israel and Yigal Shrem}, title = {Half-time whole body bone scintigraphy - Assessment of a new adaptive structure-matching non-local filter}, volume = {52}, number = {supplement 1}, pages = {2018--2018}, year = {2011}, publisher = {Society of Nuclear Medicine}, abstract = {2018 Objectives Whole Body (WB) studies are the routine acquisition protocol for bone scintigraphy. Reduced WB acquisition time without image quality degradation will decrease patient discomfort and increase clinical throughput. Present study assesses the effect of an Adaptive Structure-Matching Non-Local (ASM-NL) filter, combined with optimization of pixel size and energy window, on diagnostic quality of half-time (HT) WB bone scintigraphy as compared with standard full-time (FT) WB. Methods Tc99m-MDP WB was performed using a standard 15 minutes FT acquisition protocol on a dual head gamma camera with body contouring (Discovery NM/CT 670, GE Healthcare). List-mode data were used to derive HT scans, corresponding to a reduction in acquisition time from 15 to 7.5 minutes. HT data were reframed into images with optimized pixel size and energy window, further processed using an ASM-NL filter. Side-by-side assessment of FT and HT studies compared image quality (score 1-unacceptable, 2-poor, 3-acceptable, 4-good, 5-excellent), diagnostic confidence (low, medium, high) and lesion detectability. All parameters were tested for statistical significance using chi-square test (P\<0.05). Results 56 paired WB bone studies were reviewed. Image quality score was the same for both protocols in 53 pairs (95\%) (9-acceptable, 25-good, 19-excellent). Two FT and 1 HT studies showed quality of 1 score higher. All 56 study pairs were read with the same diagnostic confidence score (49-high, 7- medium). Lesion detectability rate was the same in 53 patients (95\%) for both protocols. Further unconfirmed foci of mild tracer uptake were seen in 3 HT studies (5\%). There was no statistically significant difference in image quality, diagnostic confidence and lesion detectability between the HT and FT acquisition protocols. Conclusions ASM-NL filtering allows performing high quality, accurate WB bone scintigraphy with a significant decrease in acquisition time. Tailoring acquisition time vs. injected dose can be also used in dose reduction strategies}, issn = {0161-5505}, URL = {https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/52/supplement_1/2018}, eprint = {https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content}, journal = {Journal of Nuclear Medicine} }