Optimization of parathyroid imaging by simultaneous dual energy planar and single photon emission tomography

Abstract

Background: Single photon emission tomography (SPET) gives valuable 3-dimensional information, but prolongs the time of imaging and increases the possibility of patient movement. We therefore investigated a method for the optimization of SPET.

Method: Using an in-house fabricated thyroid/parathyroid neck phantom simultaneous dual energy (DE) 1223I/99mTc imaging to localize parathyroid glands was assessed both in planar and SPET modes.

Results: Experiments demonstrated improved spatial resolution and contrast for planar pinhole imaging compared to parallel collimation. For DE-SPET compared to planar pinhole imaging more glands in the phantom were visualized by the improved contrast.

Conclusion: We conclude that DE-SPET for parathyroid imaging is feasible to aid the accurate localization of parathyroid adenomas. For planar imaging pinhole collimation is superior to parallel hole collimation.