• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.13-19
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• 2019

Purpose Tc-99m HMPAO is widely used radiopharmaceutical for brain perfusion SPECT. Tc-99m HMPAO is chemically unstable and is liable to show deterioration of labeling efficiency due to high incidence of secondary Tc-99m HMPAO complex, free pertechnetate and reduced-hydrolyzed Tc-99m. In this study, we investigated whether sialogogues administration could reduce the impurities of Tc-99m HMPAO. Materials and Methods In thirty subjects(20 male and 10 female, age range 19~89 years, mean age $60.7{\pm}14.5years$), brain perfusion SPECT were performed at basal and citric acid stimulation states consecutively after injection of 555 MBq of Tc-99m HMPAO. In the salivary glands, the uptake coefficient was calculated using Siemens processing program. Statistical comparison between before and after the citric acid stimulation performed paired t-test. P value less than 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant. Results Salivary glands uptake was $12900{\pm}3101$ counts in basal and $10677{\pm}2742$ counts in citric acid stimulation states. Unnecessary impurities in the body is much decreased after citric acid administration(t=10.78, P<0.05). The image quality was much improved after administration of citric acid and the regional cerebral perfusion was clearly from demarcated the background. Conclusion The impurity is distributed throughout the body particularly in the salivary glands and nasal mucosa when Tc-99m HMPAO brain perfusion SPECT is performed. If this impurities is not removed, the quality of the image may deteriorate, resulting in errors in visual evaluation. The use of sialogogues could be helpful for decreasing unnecessary impurities in the body.