Preventing patient motion during tomographic myocardial perfusion imaging

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Cardiology
• Nuclear Medicine

Background:

• Patient motion is a significant challenge in tomographic myocardial perfusion imaging.
• Motion artifacts can compromise diagnostic accuracy and necessitate repeat scans.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of a patient support device (PSD) in reducing patient motion and motion artifacts during myocardial perfusion imaging.

Main Methods:

• 190 patients undergoing stress/redistribution myocardial perfusion imaging were included.
• Each patient was imaged with and without the PSD in a randomized crossover design.
• Patient motion and artifacts were assessed using visual inspection and quantitative analysis.

Main Results:

• The PSD reduced the incidence of motion from 38% to 26% (p < 0.05).
• Motion severity was reduced by 5.3 mm (p < 0.05) with PSD use.
• Reconstruction artifacts were reduced to one-third of the control incidence (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:

• The patient support device effectively minimizes patient motion during myocardial perfusion imaging.
• Utilizing the PSD improves image quality by reducing motion-related artifacts.
• This device offers a valuable solution for enhancing the reliability of myocardial perfusion scans.