A survey of thyroid gland scintigraphy.
The Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) published procedure guidelines for thyroid imaging in 1999. We wished to determine how many clinics performing thyroid imaging follow the guidelines and to what extent. Of particular interest to us was the choice of collimator.


METHODS
We developed a 10-question survey to obtain information on how hospitals perform thyroid imaging. The questions were designed to cover the procedure recommendations of the SNM guidelines. The survey was sent to 350 hospitals randomly selected from 11 states in the northeastern United States.


RESULTS
One hundred sixty-five surveys (47%) were returned. Most of the clinics that responded obtain a history, hyperextend the neck, and obtain anterior and anterior oblique views. Twenty-five percent of the respondents obtain all their images with a parallel-hole collimator. Seventy-five percent use a pinhole collimator or a combination of parallel-hole and pinhole collimators. The number of counts and time used for acquiring the images vary greatly. Less than half the respondents palpate the neck for correlation with the scan.


CONCLUSIONS
The survey results indicated that many clinics do not follow the recommendations of the SNM guidelines. The major deviations from the guidelines were in the choice of collimator, the number of counts or amount of time used to acquire images, and the lack of neck palpation for correlation with the scan.
Crawford
Elpida S
ES
Nuclear Medicine Department, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York. esc@buffalo.edu
Guarasci
Daniel T
DT
Larson
Sheryl A
SA
D003625:Data Collection; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009683:Nuclear Medicine / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013959:Thyroid Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014481:United States