Effectiveness of oblique section display in thallium-201 myocardial tomography

A simple left ventricle phantom, placed in a water-filled body phantom, has been used to compare the detectability of simulated perfusion defects in short-axis oblique sections with transverse section tomography and conventional planar imaging. Images of the phantom were assessed by five experienced observers and their responses analysed on a lesion-by-lesion basis. No significant difference in defect detectability was found between planar imaging and transverse section tomography. However, following reorientation of the transverse section data into oblique planes perpendicular to the long-axis of the phantom there was a statistically significant increase in defect detectability compared with planar imaging. Observers also detected significantly more defects using oblique section display compared with the original transverse sections. This suggests that reformatting of the transverse sections into oblique planes may be essential to realize the full potential of thallium-201 myocardial tomography.