SPECT Imaging

The SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) takes a 3-dimensional image of the spatial distribution of the radiopharmaceutical injected in the patient, using computer reconstruction based on the planar imaging of the gamma camera. SPECT imaging are using mainly in the following applications: (1) Cardiology (Figure 2) and (2) Oncology. Cardiac perfusion studies are frequently performed using technetium-99m isotope, which map the blood flow in the myocardium, while whole body scan combined with CT are performed using Iodine-131 in order to diagnose metastases in case of thyroid cancer.

Figure 1. General purpose dual head SPECT system Figure 2. Dedicated dual head cardiac SPECT system