Assessment of SPECT Image Reconstruction in Liver Scanning Using 99mTc/ EDDA/ HYNIC-TOC

Naeem Shareef  Abdulhusein; Mohammad Reza  Deevband; Mohammad Ali  Ghodsirad; Marziyeh  Behmadi; Ghazal  Mehri-Kakavand

doi:10.18502/fbt.v11i2.15342

Naeem Shareef Abdulhusein Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics Department, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Reza Deevband Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics Department, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Ali Ghodsirad Nuclear Medicine Department, Shohada-e-Tajrish Hospital, Tehran, Iran
Marziyeh Behmadi Cancer Research Center, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran
Ghazal Mehri-Kakavand Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/fbt.v11i2.15342

Keywords: Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography Imaging; Filtering; Filter Design; Image Quality; Image Reconstruction.

Abstract

Purpose: Given that the Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) image quality is defined experimentally, developing a specialized scanning technique for each procedure is necessary to increase the diagnosis accuracy. This study aims to determine the optimal algorithm for liver scan reconstruction using ^99mTc/SPECT.

Materials and Methods: The Filtered Back-Projection (FBP) reconstruction method was used in liver scanning using ^99mTc-EDDA/HYNIC-TOC (Tektrotyd) for SPECT images of 30 patients which were acquired with a dual-head EvoExel detector system. Using different types of filters in SPECT imaging, various optimal results can be achieved in the processed images, such as artifact reduction, noise reduction, or signal enhancement and recovery. To evaluate the effect of different filters on image quality, Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (SNR), Contrast-to-Noise-Ratio (CNR), and contrast parameters were calculated.

Results: Applying filters enhanced contrast in the images in most cases as well as CNR and SNR. Metz (power = 2), Shepp-Logan (Cut-off frequency = 0.67) and Metz (power = 2) filters increase the CNR, contrast and SNR in images more than the other filters, respectively. The maximum improvement for CNR, contrast and SNR was from 0.62 to 2.35, 0.99 to 1.31, and 8.48 to 14.70, respectively.

Conclusion: Based on the results, the Hamming filter, due to providing high-quality images for visual analysis of liver SPECT, and the Butterworth filter, due to balancing the image quality and noise for quantitative analysis, are recommended.