State of the art in emission tomography equipment.
The current state of the art in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) equipment is based on developments over the last 35 years, including those items necessary to make the devices clinically useful. In SPECT, most of the development has involved rotating gamma cameras, since this device could also be used for conventional planar imaging. Recent advances involve the use of multiheaded SPECT cameras and have led to a substantial increase in image quality with these devices. Historically, attenuation correction in SPECT has been applied only to brain and abdominal studies. Currently, the application of nonuniform attenuation correction for cardiac studies, which typically requires acquisition of a transmission scan, has been investigated. Over the past 10 years, greater interest in the clinical application of PET has led to design changes in the equipment used for chemistry and scanning. Modern cyclotrons are typically smaller, self-shielded, and less complicated to run than older models. PET scanners can now image multiple planes over an extended axial field of view with approximately equal spatial resolution in all directions. Advancements in emission tomography have made these technologies more accessible for clinical application.
Fabey
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PET Center, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1061, USA.
D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D017357:Cyclotrons; D015902:Gamma Cameras; D006801:Humans; D013679:Technology, Radiologic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000295:instrumentation*