title: Scintigraphic imaging with tantalum-178 and the Anger scintillation camera: concise communication.
abstract: Tantalum-178 is a short-liver radionuclide (T 1/2 = 9.3 min.) and emits primarily 56- to 64-keV characteristic x-rays. We have determined the imaging characteristics with this radionuclide and a large-field-of-view Anger camera. With a pinhole collimator, good spatial resolution is possible with Ta-178, although the image quality is superior with Tc-99m under comparable conditions. Spatial resolution with parallel-hole or converging collimators was much less satisfactory with Ta-178 because of septal penetration by high-energy photons. Pulmonary perfusion and liver-spleen images of excellent quality were obtained in the rabbit using the pinhole collimator and Ta-178-labeled agents.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004285:Dogs; D006195:Hafnium; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D007668:Kidney / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011817:Rabbits; D011868:Radioisotopes; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013635:Tantalum; D013667:Technetium
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes; D013635:Tantalum; D013667:Technetium; D006195:Hafnium