• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.241-250
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• 2001

Purpose: Vasospasm is a complication of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). We assessed the role of acetazolamide-enhanced brain perfusion SPECT (ACZ-SPECT) with Tc-99m ECD for predicting the prognosis of patients with aSAH. Materials and methods: Two SPECT studios (baseline with 740 MBq and ACZ-SPECT with 1480 MBq) with image subtraction were performed in 21 patients with aSAH. All patients had brain CT and angiogram. Vasoreactivity on ACZ-SPECT, perfusion defect on baseline SPECT, and vasospasm on angiogram were correlated with Hunt-Hess grading, extent of SAH (unilateral or bilateral) on CT, and clinical outcome. Vasoreactivity was considered decreased when cerebral/cerebellar uptake ratio difference from baseline SPECT to ACZ-SPECT was greater than 2SD of normal control values. Results: Decreased vasoreactivity was observed in 38% (8/21), perfusion defect in 81% (17/21), and vasospasm in 38% (8/21). The preserved vasoreactivity group showed better outcome scale (92%, 12/13) and the decreased vasoreactivity group showed poorer outcome scale (62.5%, 5/8) (p=0.014). Extensive SAH was more frequently seen in the decreased vasoreactlvlty group (87.5%, 7/8) than in the preserved vasoreactivity group (30.7%, 4/13)(p=0.017). The perfusion defect and vasospasm did not show good correlation with outcome scale, extent of SAH, and Hunt-Hess grading (p=ns). Vasoreactivity represented the patient's outcome better than the vasospasm in all of the vasoreactivity/vasospasm-mismatched cases (6 cases). Conclusions: Our data show that decreased vasoreactivity on ACZ-SPECT does not always represent vasospastic condition. But patients with decreased vasoreactivity reveal poorer outcome than patients with angiographic vasospasm do. Therefore ACZ-SPECT is a valuable, noninvasive test for predicting the prognosis of patients with aSAH.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.513-518
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• 2009

Purpose: Integration of the functional information of myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) and the morphoanatomical information of coronary CT angiography (CTA) may provide useful additional diagnostic information of the spatial relationship between perfusion defects and coronary stenosis. We studied to know the added value of three dimensional cardiac SPECT/CTA fusion imaging (fusion image) by comparing between fusion image and MPS. Materials and Methods: Forty-eight patients (M:F=26:22, Age: $63.3{\pm}10.4$ years) with a reversible perfusion defect on MPS (adenosine stress/rest SPECT with Tc-99m sestamibi or tetrofosmin) and CTA were included. Fusion images were molded and compared with the findings from the MPS. Invasive coronary angiography served as a reference standard for fusion image and MPS. Results: Total 144 coronary arteries in 48 patients were analyzed; Fusion image yielded the sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive value for the detection of hemodynamically significant stenosis per coronary artery 82.5%, 79.3%, 76.7% and 84.6%, respectively. Respective values for the MPS were 68.8%, 70.7%, 62.1% and 76.4%. And fusion image also could detect more multi-vessel disease. Conclusion: Fused three dimensional volume-rendered SPECT/CTA imaging provides intuitive convincing information about hemodynamic relevant lesion and could improved diagnostic accuracy.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2009

Constant technological developments in coronary artery disease have contributed to the assessment of both the presence of coronary stenosis and its hemodynamic consequences. Hence, noninvasive imaging helps guide therapeutic decisions by providing complementary information on coronary morphology and on myocardial perfusion and metabolism. This can he done using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or positron emission tomography (PET) and multidetector CT (MDCT). Advances in image-processing software and the advent of SPECT/CT and PET/CT have paved the way for the combination of image datasets from different modalities, giving rise to hybrid imaging. Three dimensional cardiac hybrid imaging helped to confirm hemodynamic significance in many lesions, add new lesions such as left main coronay artery disease, exclude equivocal defects, correct the corresponding arteries to their allocated defects and identify culprit segment. Cardiac hybrid imaging avoids the mental integration of functional and morphologic images and facilitates a comprehensive interpretation of coronaty lesions and their pathophysiologic adequacy by three dimensional display of fused images, and allows the best evaluation of myocardial territories and the coronary-artery branches that serve each territory. This integration of functional and morphological information were feasible to intuitively convincing and might facilitate development of a comprehensive non-invasive assessment of coronary artery disease.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.159-164
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• 2009

Coronary artery disease is on the rise over the world. Myocardial perfusion SPECT is a well established technique to detect coronary artery disease and to assess left ventricular function. In addition, it has the unique ability to predict the prognosis of the patients. Moreover, the application of ECC-gated images provided the quantitatve data and improved the accuracy. This approach has been proved to be cost-effective and suitable for the emerging economies as well as developed countries. However, the utilization of nuclear cardiology procedures vary widely considering the different countries and region of the world. Korea exits 2-3 times less utilization than Japan, and 20 times than the United States. Recently, with the emerging of new technology, namely cardiac CT, cardiac MR and stress echocardiography, the clinical usefulness of nuclear cardiology has been called in question and its role has been redefined. For the proper promotion of nuclear cardiology, special educations should be conducted since the nuclear cardiology has the contact points between nuclear medicine and cardiology. Several innovations are in horizon which will impact the diagnostic accuracy as well as imaging time and cost savings. Development of new tracers, gamma camera technology and hybrid systems will open the new avenue in cardiac imaging. The future of nuclear cardiology based on molecular imaging is very exciting. The newly defined biologic targets involving atherosclerosis and vascular vulnerability will allow the answers for the key clinical questions. Hybrid techniques including SPECT/CT indicate the direction in which clinical nuclear cardiology may be headed in the immediate future. To what extent nuclear cardiology will be passively absorbed by other modalities, or will actively incorporate other modalities, is up to the present and next generation of nuclear cardiologists.

• Annals of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.118-123
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• 2022

A recent successful prospective randomized control study comparing open distal pancreatectomy with laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy (LDP) has shown that LDP is a safe and effective surgical modality in treating left-sided pancreatic pathological conditions requiring surgical extirpation. With the accumulating surgical experiences and improved surgical techniques, we recently reported several cases of successful LDP in advanced pancreatic cancer following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Herein, we report a case of LDP with celiac axis resection (LDP-CAR) in locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. A 58-yearold female with LAPC was referred to our institution. Computed tomography (CT) findings revealed a 24-mm mass in the pancreatic body that showed celiac artery (CA), common hepatic artery abutment. There was no abutment with superior mesenteric artery, superior mesenteric vein, and portal vein. From these findings, Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (FORFIRINOX) was performed biweekly. After 8 cycles of chemotherapy, the tumor size was slightly decreased (24 mm to 16 mm), but still abutting to CA. After 14 cycles of chemotherapy, CT revealed the same tumor size (16 mm) still abutting to CA. LDP-CAR was performed. Intraoperative ultrasonography gastric perfusion and hepatic perfusion were confirmed using indocyanine green. The patient recovered without complications and was discharged from the hospital nine days after the surgery.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.98-111
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• 2008

This review introduces advances in clinical and pre-clinical single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) providing noninvasive functional images of biological processes. Development of new collimation techniques such as multi-pinhole and slit-slat collimators permits the improvement of system spatial resolution and sensitivity of SPECT. Application specific SPECT systems using smaller and compact solid-state detector have been customized for myocardial perfusion imaging with higher performance. Combined SPECT/CT providing improved diagnostic and functional capabilities has been introduced. Advances in PET and CT instrumentation have been incorporated in the PET/CT design that provide the metabolic information from PET superimposed on the anatomic information from CT. Improvements in the sensitivity of PET have achieved by the fully 3D acquisition with no septa and the extension of axial field-of-view. With the development of faster scintillation crystals and electronics, time-of-flight (TOF) PET is now commercially available allowing the increase in the signal-to-noise ratio by incorporation of TOF information into the PET reconstruction process. Hybrid PET/SPECT/CT systems has become commercially available for molecular imaging in small animal models. The pre-clinical systems have improved spatial resolution using depth-of-interaction measurement and new collimators. The recent works on solid state detector and dual modality nuclear medicine instrumentations incorporating MRI and optical imagers will also be discussed.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 1994

Encephalo-duro-arterio-synangiosis (EDAS) is a relatively new surgical procedure for treatment of childhood moyamoya disease. We assessed regional cerebral perfusion in moyamoya patients before (1.3 mo) and after (6.8 mo) EDAS with $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO brain SPECT. A total of 21 EDAS operations in 17 moyamoya patients was included. Preoperative CT or MRI showed cerebral infarction in 14 patients and carotid angiography showed Suzuki grade I to V stenosis in 6%, 9%, 62%, 12% and 12% of the hemispheres respectively. Preoperative SPECT showed regional hypoperfusion in all patients, bilateral frontal and temporal lobes being the most frequently involved site. $4{\times}4$ pixel sized ROIs were applied on the frontotemporal cortex in 3 slice averaged transverse tomographic images. An index of regional perfusion was measured as: PI (%)=average F-T activity/average cerebellar activity${\times}100$ Pre-EDAS ipsilateral PI ranged from 23.7 to 98.4% (mean: $74.3{\pm}17%$) and increased significantly after operation ($81.4{\pm}17%$, p<0.001). Individual post-EDAS PI improved in 15/21 cases, showed no significant change in 5 and was slightly aggravated in 1. The amount of clinical improvement (${\Delta}CI$) was graded with a scale of 0 to 4 based on frequency and severity of TIA attacks. When patients were grouped according to pre-EDAS PI, group II (PI 70-89) showed a significantly higher ${\Delta}CI$ (3.3) compared to group I (PI< 70, 1.57) or group III (PI >90, 0.5) (P< 0.001). The amount of perfusion improvement (${\Delta}PI$) showed significant correlation with ${\Delta}CI$ (r=0.42, p=0.04). ${\Delta}PI$ did not, however, correlate with the amount of neovascularization assessed angiographically in 8 patients. Serial HMPAO SPECT is an useful noninvasive study for assessing perfusion improvement after EDAS in childhood moyamoya patients.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.58-67
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• 2020

Objective: Third-generation dual-source computed tomography (3rd-DSCT) allows dynamic myocardial CT perfusion imaging (dynamic CTP) with a 10.5-cm z-axis coverage. Although the increased radiation exposure associated with the 50% wider scan range compared to second-generation DSCT (2nd-DSCT) may be suppressed by using a tube voltage of 70 kV, it remains unclear whether image quality and the ability to quantify myocardial blood flow (MBF) can be maintained under these conditions. This study aimed to compare the image quality, estimated MBF, and radiation dose of dynamic CTP between 2ndDSCT and 3rd-DSCT and to evaluate whether a 10.5-cm coverage is suitable for dynamic CTP. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 107 patients who underwent dynamic CTP using 2nd-DSCT at 80 kV (n = 54) or 3rd-DSCT at 70 kV (n = 53). Image quality, estimated MBF, radiation dose, and coverage of left ventricular (LV) myocardium were compared. Results: No significant differences were observed between 3rd-DSCT and 2nd-DSCT in contrast-to-noise ratio (37.4 ± 11.4 vs. 35.5 ± 11.2, p = 0.396). Effective radiation dose was lower with 3rd-DSCT (3.97 ± 0.92 mSv with a conversion factor of 0.017 mSv/mGy∙cm) compared to 2nd-DSCT (5.49 ± 1.36 mSv, p < 0.001). Incomplete coverage was more frequent with 2nd-DSCT than with 3rd-DSCT (1.9% [1/53] vs. 56% [30/54], p < 0.001). In propensity score-matched cohorts, MBF was comparable between 3rd-DSCT and 2nd-DSCT in non-ischemic (146.2 ± 26.5 vs. 157.5 ± 34.9 mL/min/100 g, p = 0.137) as well as ischemic myocardium (92.7 ± 21.1 vs. 90.9 ± 29.7 mL/min/100 g, p = 0.876). Conclusion: The radiation increase inherent to the widened z-axis coverage in 3rd-DSCT can be balanced by using a tube voltage of 70 kV without compromising image quality or MBF quantification. In dynamic CTP, a z-axis coverage of 10.5 cm is sufficient to achieve complete coverage of the LV myocardium in most patients.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.194-200
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• 2007

Purpose: $^{13}N$-ammonia is a well known radiopharmaceutical for the measurement of a myocardial blood flow (MBF) non-invasively using PET-CT. In this study, we investigated a correlation between MBF obtained from dynamic imaging and myocardial perfusion score (MPS) obtained from static imaging for usefulness of cardiac PET study. Methods: Twelve patients (11 males, 1 female, $57.9{\pm}8.6$ years old) with suspicious coronary artery disease underwent PET-CT scan. Dynamic scans (6 min: $5\;sec\;{\times}\;12,\;10\;sec\;{\times}\;6,\;20\;sec\;{\times}\;3,\;and\;30\;sec\;{\times}\;6$) were initiated simultaneously with bolus injection of 11 MBq/kg $^{13}N-ammonia$ to acquire rest and stress image. Gating image was acquired during 13 minutes continuously. Nine-segment model (4 basal walls, 4 mid walls, and apex) was used for a measurement of MBF. Time activity curve of input function and myocardium was extracted from ROI methods in 9 regions for quantification. The MPS were evaluated using quantitative analysis software. To compare between 20-segment model and 9-segment model, 6 basal segments were excluded and averaged segmental scores were used. Results: There are weak correlation between MBF (rest, 0.18-2.38 ml/min/g; stress, 0.40-4.95 ml/min/g) and MPS (rest 22-91%, stress, 14-90%), however the correlation coefficient between corrected MBF and MPS in rest state was higher than stress state (rest r=0.59; stress r=0.80). As a thickening increased, correlation between MBF and MPS also showed good correlation at each segments. Conclusions: Corrected and translated MPS as its characteristics using $^{13}N$-ammonia showed good correlation with absolute MBF measured by dynamic image in this study. Therefore, we showed MPS is one of good indices which reflect MBF. We anticipate PET-CT could be used as useful tool for evaluation of myocardial function in nuclear cardiac study.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.591-602
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• 2021

Acute ischemic stroke(AIS) should be diagnosed within a few hours of onset of cerebral infarction symptoms using diagnostic radiology. In this study, we evaluated the clinical usefulness of SVD and the Bayesian algorithm to measure the volume of cerebral infarction using computed tomography perfusion(CTP) imaging and magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging(MR DWI). We retrospectively included 50 patients (male : female = 33 : 17) who visited the emergency department with symptoms of AIS from September 2017 to September 2020. The cerebral infarct volume measured by SVD and the Bayesian algorithm was analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test and expressed as a median value and an interquartile range of 25 - 75 %. The core volume measured by SVD and the Bayesian algorithm using was CTP imaging was 18.07 (7.76 - 33.98) cc and 47.3 (23.76 - 79.11) cc, respectively, while the penumbra volume was 140.24 (117.8 - 176.89) cc and 105.05 (72.52 - 141.98) cc, respectively. The mismatch ratio was 7.56 % (4.36 - 15.26 %) and 2.08 % (1.68 - 2.77 %) for SVD and the Bayesian algorithm, respectively, and all the measured values had statistically significant differences (p < 0.05). Spearman's correlation analysis showed that the correlation coefficient of the cerebral infarct volume measured by the Bayesian algorithm using CTP imaging and MR DWI was higher than that of the cerebral infarct volume measured by SVD using CTP imaging and MR DWI (r = 0.915 vs. r = 0.763 ; p < 0.01). Furthermore, the results of the Bland Altman plot analysis demonstrated that the slope of the scatter plot of the cerebral infarct volume measured by the Bayesian algorithm using CTP imaging and MR DWI was more steady than that of the cerebral infarct volume measured by SVD using CTP imaging and MR DWI (y = -0.065 vs. y = -0.749), indicating that the Bayesian algorithm was more reliable than SVD. In conclusion, the Bayesian algorithm is more accurate than SVD in measuring cerebral infarct volume. Therefore, it can be useful in clinical utility.