Investigation of the minimum uptake time for quantitative jawbone SPECT.

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiopharmacology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Bone scintigraphy imaging times vary, impacting patient care.
• Previous studies showed [99mTc] Tc-HMDP uptake at 2 hours is comparable to 3 hours.
• Shorter uptake times benefit patients with poor general health, including cancer patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if uptake time for quantitative jawbone SPECT using [99mTc] Tc-HMDP can be further reduced.
• To determine the minimum acceptable uptake time for accurate quantitative SPECT analysis of jawbone lesions.

Main Methods:

• Forty patients underwent jawbone SPECT imaging with [99mTc] Tc-HMDP.
• Patients were divided into 1.0-hour and 1.5-hour uptake time groups, with imaging at 1.0/2.0h and 1.5/2.0h respectively.
• Maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) were compared between time points and groups using quantitative SPECT software.

Main Results:

• In the 1.0-hour group, parietal bone SUVmax showed no significant difference, but jawbone lesion SUVmax significantly increased by 2.0h (p < 0.001).
• In the 1.5-hour group, parietal bone SUVmax was not significantly different, while jawbone lesion SUVmax significantly increased by 2.0h (p < 0.001).
• No significant difference was found in parietal bone uptake between earlier and later time points in either group.

Conclusions:

• Quantitative SPECT evaluation of jawbone lesions using [99mTc] Tc-HMDP cannot be reduced by 30-minute increments from 2 hours.
• The shortest acceptable acquisition time for quantitative jawbone SPECT remains 2 hours.
• Further reduction in uptake time below 2 hours is not feasible for accurate quantitative analysis.