Abstract: With nuclear medicine imaging technique, abnormalities in the human body can be detected at early stages and therefore an effective treatment planning is possible to make. Consequently, human lives can be saved and the health condition of patients can also be improved. However, this depends upon the reliable diagnostic information that is obtained by an imaging system. Presence of scattered gamma photons leads to the inaccurate representation of counts in the image projection, thus the loss of image contrast and overall image degradation. This study uses the unconventional (material) filters i.e., Aluminum (Al) 0.1 & 0.2mm and Copper (Cu) 0.125 & 0.127mm thick flat sheets for the reduction of scattered gamma photons before they reach to the gamma camera detector. Quality of images reconstructed from the data acquired by three gamma camera systems (Toshiba GCA109A/HG, Philip ADAC Forte dual head and GE Infina dual head) installed at two different nuclear medicine departments was assessed. Data were acquired by imaging R. A. Carlson’s phantom with hot region and cardiac inserts and Tc-99m radionuclide was used. LEHR collimator was used and unconventional (material) filter(s) were mounted on the outer surface of collimator, separately. Symmetrical energy window (20% for Tc-99m) was selected. Images were investigated in terms of contour analysis and lesion detectability. Improvement was achieved in the parameters that were investigated for images obtained from the data with unconventional (material) filters, as compared to without material filtered data images. Thus, the technique may be tested further by using more complicated phantoms, such as; Heart/Thorax phantom. Moreover, results are suggestive, that the technique may be proved to be useful when applied in clinical studies.
Keywords: Scatter correction, SPECT, Image quality, Noise, Contrast, Unconventional filters, Gamma camera.
Title: Effects of Unconventional (Material) Filters on the Quality of Images Produced By Three Gamma Camera Systems in Tc-99m SPECT
Author: Inayatullah Shah Sayed, Fong Shu Yee, Farhana Mansoor, Nurul Farizan Binti Mohd Zulkele
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
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