Clinical application of three-dimensional surface display in brain imaging with Tc-99m HMPAO

Twenty-two patients with completed stroke were studied to evaluate the clinical usefulness of three-dimensional (3D) surface display in brain imaging with Tc-99m HM-PAO. Perfusion defects were seen by standard 3D surface display in all 13 patients, with low density areas (LDA) extending to the cerebral cortex on X-ray computed tomography. In nine patients with LDA limited around the basal ganglia, perfusion defects were not identified by standard display alone, but six were found to have such defects by 3D surface display minus the covering upper structure. This study indicates that standard 3D surface display is useful in stereoscopically evaluating cortical defects without searching through a large number of single photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) images. Moreover, 3D surface display minus the upper structure is effective to demonstrate defects within the brain.