Evaluation of cardiac cone-beam single photon emission computed tomography using observer performance experiments and receiver operating characteristic analysis.
OBJECTIVE
Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with a cone-beam collimator improves the trade-off between detection efficiency and spatial resolution for cardiac imaging. However, acquisitions using orbits where the focus remains in a plane do not provide sufficient data for exact reconstruction. In the current study the authors evaluate the clinical utility of planar-orbit cone-beam SPECT in detecting a simple myocardial defect.


METHODS
Observer performance experiments compared high-resolution cone-beam with same-resolution parallel-hole and fan-beam collimator designs in myocardial defect detection using a computer-simulated cardiac model. The uptake of Thallium-201 in the myocardium and other tissue organs was modeled by a mathematical three-dimensional upper torso phantom from which physically realistic projections were simulated. Eight observers viewed reconstructed transaxial images from the three collimator designs and indicated the certainty with which they detected a Gaussian-shaped defect at a specified location.


RESULTS
The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve indicated that the cone-beam design, regardless of slice position, was superior to the fan-beam, which in turn was superior to the parallel-hole design for the specified detection task.


CONCLUSIONS
The observer study demonstrated that reconstruction artifacts resulting from insufficient data sampling do not hinder obtaining improved diagnostic information from planar-orbit cone-beam cardiac SPECT images compared to conventional cardiac SPECT using parallel-hole and fan-beam collimators.
Tsui
B M
BM
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599.
Terry
J A
JA
Gullberg
G T
GT
D000328:Adult; D016477:Artifacts; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008961:Models, Structural; D015588:Observer Variation; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes