Principles of

SPECT

Presented by:
Jhonatan Caceres
Viviana Gonzalez
Michael Mallo
Nabil Ortega
Matty Smith-Lee
Objectives

Discuss the advantages of SPECT compared with
planar imaging.
Describe characteristics of the SPECT Gantry.
List SPECT acquisition modes.
Describe principals of tomography reconstructions.
List types of low pass filters.
Discuss the use and the effect of cut off frequency and
its effects on image smoothness and noise.

A technique which
measures the
emission of single
photons of a given
energy from
radioactive tracers to
construct images of
the distribution of
the tracers in the
patient.


Is distinguished
from x-ray CT in
that the photons
used in ECT
originate within
the subject
instead of from an
external source.


Image the two
511-KeV photons
produced when a
positron comes
into contact with
an electron.

Combine both
modalities into one
device, which allows CT
and ECT images to be
collected at one
section, and after
automated registration,
to be displayed with
precise registration.


The most common measurements of
image quality are:
Resolution
Contrast
noise


Resolution refers
to how well
objects can be
separated in space
(as opposed to
blurring them
together).

Contrast refers to how
well different levels of
brightness can be seen,
brightness representing
density for x-rays and
radionuclide
concentration in
scintigrams).

Noise in Scintigraphic
Image
Is primarily the
result of the
random nature
of counting
statistics.


SPECT System: scintillation
camera, Granty and the
computers system
Scintillation camera
Developed in 1960 by Hal
Anger of the University of
California at Berkley. Its
basic components are:
Collimator
Sodium Iodine Crystal
Photomultiplier tubes
Pulse height analyzers
Spatial positioning circuit.

Gantry (largest part of the SPECT
system)
SPECT Systems
Consist on a scintillation camera
mounted on a ring gantry formed.
Most of them with a rectangular
head shape.
Multiple detectors SPECT have
more than one scintillation camera.
Adding more detectors to a
scintillation camera system
increases its sensitivity.
The more sensitivity, more counts,
higher resolution collimation.
Cardiac SPECTS use 180 degrees
orbits.


Combination of both
scanners into one
gantry, that bring
together two images
made on two different
systems at two different
times.
SPECT/CT are larger,
heavier and need more
shielding than a room
for a SPECT.

Focusing device of a
SPECT Camera.
Rated by sensitivity and
resolution.
LEAP, GAP & HRES
Collimators.
Most medium and high
energy collimators are
designed for lower
resolution than low
energy collimators.


SPECT images are created by
mathematically combining many
planar scintigrams called
projections as it moves around
the body. The camera moves,
stops, acquires an image, moves
again, stops, and acquires
another image; this is called Step
and Shoot
The theory of SPECT requires that
the scintillation camera acquire
enough images of the patient at
different angles to obtain a
complete description of the
distribution of the radioactive
tracer.
In 180 degree data acquisition the
camera is only allow to move 180
degrees around the body.
Heart studies are best preformed
using 180 degrees data acquisition.
45 degrees of rotation acquire
attenuation of the right anterior
oblique (RAO), and 45 degrees the
left posterior oblique of the heart
(LPO).
Although 180 degrees acquisitions
has higher resolution and contrast
than those from 360 degree
acquisitions, artifacts can be avoided
with the 360 degree reconstructions.

In circular orbits, the gamma
camera is limited to rotating
in circle. The detector is
positioned at a fixed radius
with respect to the center of
rotation (COR).
Body-contour is set to rotate
around the body as well as
circular motion, as close to
the body as possible
throughout the topographic
acquisition, in other words,
maximizing the quality or
resolution of the images
In 1917, Johann Radon proved the
possibility of reconstructing
radionuclide distribution from
planar projections.
Reconstruction algorithms fall into
two categories; Iterative
methods and analytic methods.
Analytic methods are based on
exact mathematical solutions to
the image reconstruction
problem.
Iterative methods estimate the
distribution through successive
approximations.

High frequency
components are sharp
changes in image
intensity, such as those
seen at edges between
the heart and the
background or in noise
points.

Low frequencies
contain information
about slowly changing
or constant intensities
of the imagines, such as
uniform regions of
perfusion.


SPECT filters are used either to enhance or to remove the high-frequency component
of the image.

Low and High Pass Filters
Filters that remove high frequencies are called low pass filter
because they preserve (pass) only the low frequencies. This
reduces noise but blurs edges. Filters that enhance high
frequencies are called high pass filters. They operate in the
opposite manner; they pass only the high frequencies while
attenuation low frequencies. This sharpens organ boundaries
but increases noises.
Low frequencies reflect the overall shapes of an image, high
frequencies are the result of areas with sharp changes in pixel
counts such as (edges and image noise.) The highest
frequency in a digital image is 0.5 cycles pixel, representing
alternating bright and dark pixels. This frequency is called the
Nyquist frequency.




Filter are defined in terms of spatial frequencies, it is
important to pay careful attention to the unit s of
frequency.
cycles/pixel and cycles/cm
Ramp Filters-are high passing filter , is the most important filter for
SPECT because the ramp filter erases the blurring if simple blurring of
simple back-projection. It is important to note that the ramp filter is
applied only in the transaxial plane because this is the only plane that
experience blurring in simple back projection.
Hanning Filters- smoothing (or noise reduction) filter for SPECT. The
lower the cutoff frequency the more high frequencies are removed
from the image and the smoother the filtered imagine.
Butterworth Filters is characterized by a level plateau and drop off
defined by the critical frequency. The power factor defines the
steepness of this drop off. It is important to note that the critical
frequency of the Butterworth filter differs from the cutoff frequency
of the Hanning filter. Butter worth filter equals 1/root of 2, not 0.




Prior to back projection: 2D filter applied to each to f planar projections
before back projection actually filters in all three dimensions. After image
reconstruction, the image will have the same resolution in all three
dimensions. This offers an advantages if sagittal, coronal, or oblique
images are needed.
During back projection: a one dimensional smoothing filter is sometimes
combined with the ramp filter and applied during the back projection
process. The advantage is that only one filter is applied the combination of
a ramp and a Butterworth filter and computation are reduced. The
disadvantage is that no smoothing has been done in the axial dimension.
If sagittal, coronal or oblique images are cut from the resulting image set
they will not have been equally smoothed in all direction and will appear
to have horizontal streaks.



After back projections filter may be applied after image reconstruction but
they should be applied in three dimensions. If a 2 D filter is applied to
trans axial images, however the same problems will occur as with filtering
during back projection. The imagines will not have been smoothed in the
axial dimension. Another filter must then be applied sometimes called a y
filter to compensate before images at other orientation are extracted.



Different color scales
may be used to
highlight different
features in SPECT
images
Certain color scales may
help distinguish normal
from abnormal regions
Gray scale is actually
better for highlighting
very dim objects

Transaxial images are the natural products of rotational
tomography that represent cross-sectional slices of the
body perpendicular to the long axis of the body
Can also be called transverse slices
SPECT images can be reconstructed so that the images
are contiguous and the slice thickness is equal to the
pixel size
Longitudinal images have to do with the coronal and
sagittal slices
Extracted images from computers at any orientation
Short and long axis are most commonly used in
myocardial tomography

Currently most common display mode is 2D
Efforts have been underway to generate true
3D displays
These displays fall into two categories: volume
rendering and surface rendering


Refers to methods that display an organ or
region based on explicitly detected
boundaries
Requires segmentation
Segmentation is the process of separating the
organ from the background or nearby
structures

Offers the advantage of visualizing an object in
3D without having to identify the surface
Most common in SPECT is maximum intensity
projection (MIP) which was developed by
Wallis and Miller
Well suited for hot-spot imaging but has
limited application in cold lesions
http://www.answers.com/topic/nuclear-reaction.

Nuclear Medicine and PET/CT Technology and Techniques.
Sixth Edition. Edited by Paul E. Christian and Kristen M. Waterstram-Ric

Radiological Society of North America. Radiology Info. 2008. 21 9 2008
<http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/about/index.cfm?pg=abt_copyrt&bhcp=1>
Questions
1. What does MIP stand for?
2. What is segmentation?
3. Filter that remove high frequencies are called _____________ filters.
4. What is the disadvantage of using a filter during back projection?
5. True/False: Heart studies are best preformed using 360-degrees data
acquisition.
6. Name two methods of reconstruction algorithm.
7. What is the largest part of the SPECT?
8. Collimators are rated by _________________ and ________________.
9. What ECT stands for?
10. T/F? Hybrid PET/CT and SPECT/CT systems combine both modalities into
one device.


Answers
1. Low-pass Filter.
2. No smoothing has been done in the axial dimension.
3. Maximum intensity projection
4. Is the process of separating the organ from the background or nearby
structures.
5. False: Heart studies are best preformed using 180 degrees data
acquisition.
6. Iterative method and analytic method.
7. The Granty.
8. Sensitivity and Resolution.
9. Emission computer tomography.
10. True.