Ventilation/perfusion SPECT or SPECT/CT for lung function imaging in patients with pulmonary emphysema?
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the utility of attenuation correction (AC) of V/P SPECT images for patients with pulmonary emphysema.


METHODS
Twenty-one patients (mean age 67.6 years) with pulmonary emphysema who underwent V/P SPECT/CT were included. AC/non-AC V/P SPECT images were compared visually and semiquantitatively. Visual comparison of AC/non-AC images was based on a 5-point likert scale. Semiquantitative comparison assessed absolute counts per lung (aCpLu) and lung lobe (aCpLo) for AC/non-AC images using software-based analysis; percentage counts (PC = (aCpLo/aCpLu) × 100) were calculated. Correlation between AC/non-AC V/P SPECT images was analyzed using Spearman's rho correlation coefficient; differences were tested for significance with the Wilcoxon rank sum test.


RESULTS
Visual analysis revealed high conformity for AC and non-AC V/P SPECT images. Semiquantitative analysis of PC in AC/non-AC images had an excellent correlation and showed no significant differences in perfusion (ρ = 0.986) or ventilation (ρ = 0.979, p = 0.809) SPECT/CT images.


CONCLUSIONS
AC of V/P SPECT images for lung lobe-based function imaging in patients with pulmonary emphysema do not improve visual or semiquantitative image analysis.
Department of Radiology, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany, vera.froeling@charite.de.
Vera
V
Froeling
Uwe
U
Heimann
Ralf-Harto
RH
Huebner
Thomas J
TJ
Kroencke
Martin H
MH
Maurer
Felix
F
Doellinger
Dominik
D
Geisel
Bernd
B
Hamm
Winfried
W
Brenner
Nils F
NF
Schreiter
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D055420:Perfusion Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D011656:Pulmonary Emphysema / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012119:Respiration; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*