Biomaterial Database

Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Applications and potential. 1990

B L Holman, and S S Tumeh

Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.

Single-photon emission computed tomography has received increasing attention as radiopharmaceuticals that reflect perfusion, metabolism, and receptor and cellular function have become widely available. Perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography of the brain provides functional information useful for the diagnosis and management of stroke, dementia, and epilepsy. Single-photon emission computed tomography has been applied to myocardial, skeletal, hepatic, and tumor scintigraphy, resulting in increased diagnostic accuracy over planar imaging because background activity and overlapping tissues interfere far less with activity from the target structure when tomographic techniques are used. Single-photon emission computed tomography is substantially less expensive and far more accessible than positron emission tomography and will become an increasingly attractive alternative for transferring the positron emission tomography technology to routine clinical use. In addition, single-photon emission computed tomography has unique applications that are increasingly finding their way into the routine practice of clinical nuclear medicine.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D001847	Bone Diseases	Diseases of BONES.	Bone Disease,Disease, Bone,Diseases, Bone
D002318	Cardiovascular Diseases	Pathological conditions involving the CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM including the HEART; the BLOOD VESSELS; or the PERICARDIUM.	Adverse Cardiac Event,Cardiac Events,Major Adverse Cardiac Events,Adverse Cardiac Events,Cardiac Event,Cardiac Event, Adverse,Cardiac Events, Adverse,Cardiovascular Disease,Disease, Cardiovascular,Event, Cardiac
D002493	Central Nervous System Diseases	Diseases of any component of the brain (including the cerebral hemispheres, diencephalon, brain stem, and cerebellum) or the spinal cord.	CNS Disease,Central Nervous System Disease,Central Nervous System Disorder,CNS Diseases,Central Nervous System Disorders
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D015899	Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon	A method of computed tomography that uses radionuclides which emit a single photon of a given energy. The camera is rotated 180 or 360 degrees around the patient to capture images at multiple positions along the arc. The computer is then used to reconstruct the transaxial, sagittal, and coronal images from the 3-dimensional distribution of radionuclides in the organ. The advantages of SPECT are that it can be used to observe biochemical and physiological processes as well as size and volume of the organ. The disadvantage is that, unlike positron-emission tomography where the positron-electron annihilation results in the emission of 2 photons at 180 degrees from each other, SPECT requires physical collimation to line up the photons, which results in the loss of many available photons and hence degrades the image.	CAT Scan, Single-Photon Emission,CT Scan, Single-Photon Emission,Radionuclide Tomography, Single-Photon Emission-Computed,SPECT,Single-Photon Emission-Computed Tomography,Tomography, Single-Photon, Emission-Computed,Single-Photon Emission CT Scan,Single-Photon Emission Computer-Assisted Tomography,Single-Photon Emission Computerized Tomography,CAT Scan, Single Photon Emission,CT Scan, Single Photon Emission,Emission-Computed Tomography, Single-Photon,Radionuclide Tomography, Single Photon Emission Computed,Single Photon Emission CT Scan,Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography,Single Photon Emission Computer Assisted Tomography,Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography,Tomography, Single-Photon Emission-Computed