Advanced technologies

in SPECT/CT

Presented by : SORDI BOUCHRA & ZYATI ZAHIRA

 Introduction

Single-Photon Emission
Computed Tomography

Advances in SPECT systems

Conclusion

Outline 2
 Introduction
Recently, several novel designs of the gantry coupled with
new solid-state detectors, which allow increased photon
sensitivity in the myocardial region, have been introduced.
Physical space requirements are reduced since the
dedicated detectors and gantries are significantly smaller
in comparison to conventional scanners.

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 Introduction

Due to As consequence

New reconstruction techniques utilizing

resolution recovery principles, these Much shorter acquisition times are
systems are able to maintain or improve possible allowing for the additional benefit
overall spatial resolution, and of reducing patient motion during scans
significantly increase photon sensitivity and increasing patient comfort

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Single-Photon Emission
Computed Tomography

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 Introduction

Nuclear medicine imaging including conventional planar scintigraphy, single-photon emission computed
tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET), relies on
the tracer principle, in which a minute quantity of a radiopharmaceutical is introduced into the body to
monitor the patient’s physiological function

In a clinical environment, radionuclide images are interpreted visually to assess

the physiological function of tissues, organs, and organ systems.

Alternatively, these images can be evaluated quantitatively to measure biochemical and physiological
processes of importance in both research and clinical applications.

Nuclear medicine relies on non-invasive measurements performed with external detectors and radiation
sources in a way that does not allow the radiotracer measurement to be isolated
from surrounding body tissues or cross-talk from radiotracer uptake in non-target regions.
 The major challenges

1 2 3 4
Factors related to Those related to Image Factors related to
imaging system the physics of reconstruction patient motion and
performance and photon other physiological
data acquisition interaction with issues
protocols biologic tissues

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 SPECT FUNDAMENTALS
The fundamental objective of any tomographic imaging is to determine the internal distribution of
an object solely from external measurements.
This can be accomplished only Is the following requirements are met

the internal the detectors that acquire

distribution is not the projections have
a complete set the center of spatially or
of rotation is uniform detection
temporally sensitivity that remains
projections is accurately changing during
acquired known constant throughout the
the time that the acquisition
projections are
acquired,

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1.
Developments in
SPECT instrumentation

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 Introduction

Anger scintillation camera

Development in SPECT

New SPECT collimators and gantries

Advances in SPECT systems

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 Introduction

Advances in dedicated SPECT instrumentation may stimulate

the use of clinical high resolution imaging of the brain.

One example of such unconventional systems is the recently marketed

NeuroFocus™ multiconebeam imager (Neurophysics Corporation, Shirley,
MA), which produces radionuclide images with an intrinsic spatial
resolution of ~3 mm.

The operation of the NeuroFocus™ scanner follows the same

principles as scanning optical microscopes to obtain highresolution,
threedimensional images of biological tissue
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 principle and
basic components of the Anger scintillation camera

Virtually all commercial scintillation cameras used for

imaging gamma-ray emitting radiopharmaceuticals are
based on the original design proposed by Anger about
60 years ago, which is considered the working horse of
contemporary nuclear medicine

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 principle and
basic components of the Anger scintillation camera

the Figure illustrates the principle and basic components of the Anger scintillation camera which
incorporates a large scintillation sodium iodide crystal dope with thallium (NaI(Tl)), equipped with a
parallel-hole collimator that limits the acceptance angle and defines the spatial
distribution of gamma radiation viewed by the scintillator.
Behind the crystal, a light guide is optically coupled to an array of light sensitive photomultiplier tubes
(PMT’s) that proportionately convert the distribution of scintillation light into electronic signals.

The PMT’s outputs then are processed using “Anger logic” electronics that generate output signals
representing the spatial position and energy of the individually detected gamma-rays on an event-by-
event basis. Images displayed on the console represent the accumulation of the
individual events recorded during an imaging study. Depending on the size of the scintillation camera,
whole organs such as brain, heart and liver can be imaged.

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 principle and
basic components of the Anger scintillation camera

Schematic description of
the principles and basic components of
an Anger scintillation camera
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 Developments in SPECT instrumentation

SPECT has become one of the major tools for the in vivo localisation of radiopharmaceuticals in nuclear
medicine and now is performed routinely with commercially available radiopharmaceuticals to answer
important clinical questions including those in

psychiatry oncology
Cardiologie neurologie

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 Developments in SPECT instrumentations

The major challenges to quantitative SPECT can be categorized in 4 classes

those related to the

factors related to imaging physics of photon factors related to patient
system performance and interaction with biologic motion and other
data acquisition protocols tissues (physical physiological
(instrumentation factors), issues (physiological
and measurement factors), image
factors).
reconstruction
(reconstruction
factors)

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Dedicated small field-of-view pixelat- ed gamma cameras

◈ The pixelated crystal limits the degree to which the scintillation light spreads laterally and
thereby can improve spatial resolution in comparison to cameras that use continuous
crystals A typical design used 4 mm thick

◈ CsI(Tl) crystal with a 1.13 mm pixel pitch readout by position sensitive PMT’s (PSPMT’s)
It should be emphasized that such a design improves spatial resolution at the expense of
deteriorating the energy resolution resulting from light losses in the pixelated crystal
compared to that of a single crystal. However, cameras with pixelated scintillators also
can have the scintillator segments coupled to individual photomultiplier tubes, allowing
them to be operated somewhat independently of one another to increase count-rate
capabilities for first-pass and other high count rate imaging applications

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 The development of strip solid-state detectors

The better energy resolution of semiconductor detectors is the consequence

of the lower energy needed to create an electron-hole pair (3–6 eV)
compared to the energy required to create a scintillation photon (~30 eV) in
a conventional NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal.

In addition, solid-state detectors obviously do not suffer the light losses that
occur between a scintillation crystal and the PMT’s which also improves the
signal generation process in the camera.

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 Trends in PET instrumentation

Schematic description of the principles and basic componentsof a PET tomograph.

Following iv.
injection of a radiotracer, a positron travels a few millimetres (depending
on its energy and electronic density of the medium) before it annihilates
with a nearby atomic electron, producing two 511 keV photons emitted
in nearly opposite directions. A PET tomograph consists of a set of detectors
usually arranged in adjacent rings surrounding the field-of-view.
Pairs of annihilation photons are detected using a coincidence data
acquisition electronics system and processed on computer to reconstruct
tomographic PET images.
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Trends in PET instrumentation

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New SPECT collimators
and gantries

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 Collimators

With the exception of the CardiArc, D-SPECT, and MarCSPECT,the devices described earlier acquire
SPECT studies in a conventional manner that is not substantially different
from the early 1980s when SPECT systems were first introduced.
Nearly all clinical SPECT uses parallel-hole collimation as the image-forming aperture, although
fanbeam collimation is used for brain SPECT in some clinics. Collimators
are very inefficient allowing, ,1 of 5,000 g-rays that hit its surface to be transmitted through to the
detector, and are the limiting component of count sensitivity and spatial resolution. In this section,
alternate approaches to parallelhole collimation will be discussed. As is often the case,
several of these approaches are based on previous ideas that were ahead of the available technology of
their time.

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D-SPECT system with 9
6 detector columns One detector column (C).
detector columns

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 Multipinhole collimator

Acquisition geometry of the GE

NM530c multipinhole system

imaging formation diagram at each pinhole

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 Cardiac Spect

◈ The new cardiac SPECT scanners described above allow better image resolution and
improved count sensitivity as compared to the conventional dual-head Anger camera
systems. Recently, Imbert at al. compared the performance of these new cardiac SPECT
systems with the conventional dual head scanner. In addition, we have obtained additional
information describing similar benchmark results from one vendor. The comparisons of count
sensitivity (expressed in %), and image resolution (in mm), for all these new scanners vs.
conventional dual head systems are shown in .

◈ As illustrated, the new cardiac SPECT systems may allow up to a 7-times increase in the
sensitivity and over a 2-times improvement in effective image resolution as compared with
the conventional dual head systems. The reported imaging times on these systems range
from 2-3 minutes for systems with dedicated solid state detectors to 4 minutes on the
system with dedicated collimators

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 Cardiac Spect

New cardiac SPECT systems. (A) CardiArc uses slit–slat approachto acquire projection information. (B) D-SPECT detector head consists of
10 pixelated CZT detector columns. After a scout scan determines heart location, each detector independently swivels to collect
projections.
Advances in SPECT
systems

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1. Development in
SPECT(PHILIPS)
www.medical.philips.com

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2. Development in
SPECT(siemens)
www.siemens.fr

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3. Development in
SPECT(GE Health )
http://www.gehealthcare.com

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 Another SPECT hardware

Design camera uses traditional fan beam collimators in the 3-

detector configuration coupled with solid state (photodiode)
detectors and Cs(I) scintillation crystals (Digirad Cardius 3 XPO).

The two outer detectors are positioned at a 67.5 degree angle to

the central detectors. Data acquisition is accomplished by rotating
the chair (rather than detectors) by 67.5 degrees, resulting in an
acquisition arc of 202.5 degrees.

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 Advantages

Full access Economical

to processing Easy to in terms of
and reading install and maintenance
integrate and
expansion

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Instalation
SPECT / ct

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 Conclusion

◈ The improved sensitivity of this technology, initially developed for

cardiology applications, means that less radiotracer activity is required
for an equivalent image quality and allows reduction of the study
duration, there by avoiding movement and reducing overall patient
exposure.

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References

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 Documents

Advances in SPECT and PET Hardware; Piotr J. Slomka; Tinsu Pan; Daniel S. Berman; Guido Germano

Recent developments and future trends in nuclear medicine instrumentation ; Habib Zaidi Division of Nuclear Medicine,
Geneva University Hospital, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland

Hutton, Brian F. “Recent advances in iterative reconstruction for clinical SPECT/PET and CT.” Acta oncologica (Stockholm,
Sweden) vol.

Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging (2014) 41 (Suppl 1):S3–S16

Slomka, Piotr J et al. “Advances in SPECT and PET Hardware.” Progress in cardiovascular diseases vol. 57,6 (2015): 566-
78.

Smith, Mark F. “Recent advances in cardiac SPECT instrumentation and system design.” Current cardiology reports vol.
15,8 (2013): 387

schlussbericht-fanm-spect-ct-2014.pdf

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 Sites web

https://www.rsna.org/

http://www.gehealthcare.com/

http://www.siemens.fr/

http://www.medical.philips.com/

https://www.eanm.org/

www.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Thank you
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