title: Understanding the cause of an unreadable nuclear medicine image: a case of unexpected results with 123I whole-body scintigraphy.
abstract: When unexpected results are obtained with standard image collection, the nuclear medicine physician must consider many technical factors that may have contributed. When image quality is poor, prior radiotracer administration, among other things, should always be considered. Our case demonstrates how knowledge of patient history and basic principles of nuclear medicine physics allows recognition of the septal penetration artifact. This allows the nuclear medicine physician to tailor the exam to an individual patient and obtain the most useful diagnostic information for the clinician.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center/University Health, Shreveport, Louisiana.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Skweres
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center/University Health, Shreveport, Louisiana zyang@lsuhsc.edu.
authors.forename: Zhiyun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center/University Health, Shreveport, Louisiana.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Toledo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D009683:Nuclear Medicine; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D051598:Whole Body Imaging
chemical_list: D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes
keywords: 123I; 131I; artifact; collimator; physics