Application of breath-holding SPECT with high-speed-rotation technique in hepatic-function scintigraphy

Recently, a new method for acquiring SPECT data in deep inspiratory breath hold with a high-speed rotation (HSR-SPECT) technique was developed for pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy. Our purpose in this study was to apply this method to hepatic-function scintigraphy. A phantom study was performed for determining data acquisition times. The coefficient of variation (CV) value was used for evaluating nonuniformity of radioactivity in the liver area. Data acquisition times were determined based on the CV value. According to the results of the phantom study, this method needs at least ten projection data sets for acquiring sufficient counts for a proper diagnosis. Under clinical conditions, breath-holding HSR-SPECT can suppress the respiratory motion effects, better than the conventional method can. In addition, the fusion images made from breath-holding HSR-SPECT images match excellently with CT images.