Clinical Experience with Dual Head Gamma Camera Coincidence Imaging

The authors report their experience with F-18 FDG coincidence imaging (CI) on a Dual Head Gamma Camera system employed for more than 2 years starting on August 23, 1996 within a community hospital. The latest version of this system included attenuation correction since May 1998. The problems with such systems and approaches in correcting these problems are described. This new technology promises to make F-18 FDG imaging available to community hospitals that may have a limited patient population and cannot afford the costs of a dedicated PET system. We feel that CI is cost effective and provides useful clinical information. We stress that this is our own opinion supported by the satisfaction of referring clinicians in answering clinical questions regarding their patients' clinical problems. CI with these systems provide imaging of F-18 FDG using three to six mCi. These systems are not suitable for short half-life positron emitters such as Carbon-11 and Oxygen-15.