title: Soft Tissue Attenuation Patterns Associated with Supine Acquisition SPECT Myocardial Perfusion Imaging: A Descriptive Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Soft-tissue attenuation patterns in SPECT-myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) of supine acquisition systems are well recognized. Their prevalence and interaction with body-habitus and gender are ill-defined, which we sought to describe in this study.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a cross-sectional study, we described the prevalence of soft-tissue attenuation patterns in normal SPECT-MPI studies acquired with a supine patient-position SPECT system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 263 normal, clinically-indicated, supine-acquisition SPECT-MPIs the attenuation patterns observed were: anterior (35.4%), inferior (41.8%) and lateral (13.3%). Anterior attenuation was more prevalent among women (50.7% vs. 15.7%, P<0.001) and was associated with chest circumference among men. Conversely, inferior attenuation was more prevalent among men (78.3% vs. 13.5%, P<0.001) and was not affected by body-habitus. Lateral attenuation was more common among women (19.6% vs. 5.2%, p=0.001) and was associated with obesity (p=0.015).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Soft-tissue attenuation artifacts are common in supine-acquisition SPECT-MPI. The recognition of their prevalence and association with body-habitus and gender is critical for the accurate interpretation of SPECT-MPI.
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiology, Nuclear Cardiology and Stress Testing Laboratories, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Rami
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Doukky
authors.forename: Mouyyad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rahaby
authors.forename: Tareq
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Alyousef
authors.forename: Raj
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vashistha
authors.forename: Dave
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chawla
authors.forename: Amit P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Amin