title: Usefulness of dual-head coincidence gamma camera with thick NaI crystals for nuclear oncology: comparison with dedicated PET camera and conventional gamma camera with thin NaI crystals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A comparative study of the images obtained with a dual-head coincidence gamma camera with thick NaI crystals (19 mm), a dedicated PET camera with BGO crystals and a conventional gamma camera with thin NaI crystals (9.5 mm) was conducted to clarify the clinical feasibility of a dual-head coincidence gamma camera with thick NaI crystals.
  
  
  METHODS
  FDG images of 27 patients with malignant tumors were obtained by means of a dual-head coincidence gamma camera with thick NaI crystal and a dedicated PET camera with BGO crystals. The images of bone scintigraphy in 10 cancer patients obtained with the dual-head coincidence gamma camera were compared with those taken by a conventional dual-head gamma camera with thin NaI crystals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patient-basis sensitivity in 27 patients with neoplasms and lesion-basis sensitivity of the dual-head coincidence gamma camera and the dedicated PET camera were 74.1% and 85.2% (n.s.), 66.7% and 72.2% (n.s.), respectively. The tumor to background FDG uptake ratio derived from the coincidence gamma camera was significantly lower than that derived from the dedicated PET camera (mean +/- s.d.; 3.48 +/- 3.77 vs. 8.12 +/- 8.92, p < 0.0001), but the tumor to background FDG uptake ratio obtained with both methods correlated well (r = 0.84, p < 0.001). Similar whole body bone scans were obtained with the dual-head coincidence gamma camera and the conventional dual-head gamma camera in all 10 patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that the dual-head coincidence gamma camera with thick NaI crystals has potentially high clinical applicability for community hospitals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Gunma University School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan. tomioi@med.gunma-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oriuchi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tomiyoshi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Endo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D015902:Gamma Cameras / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012974:Sodium Iodide; D013669:Technetium Tc 99m Medronate / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; C024226:technetium Tc 99m hydroxymethylene diphosphonate; D012974:Sodium Iodide; D013669:Technetium Tc 99m Medronate