Detection efficiency of different bone SPECT processing protocols for the diagnosis of "spina bifida"

Bone SPECT is a very important diagnostic tool for the detection of metabolically active lesions, with good anatomical resolution. It is highly technique-dependent however, and the reports about the role of bone SPECT in diagnosing hypoactive lesions are very limited. In order to determine its diagnostic value, we investigated 18 pediatric spina bifida cases with bone SPECT using different processing and displaying methods. The results were evaluated on a 1 to 5 point scale. Although it was not a very effective procedure for small hypoactive bony lesions, we concluded that the processing method using a Butterworth filter, a cut-off frequency 0.50 cycle/cm and a logarithmic gray scale displaying detects bone lesion more efficiently than the Hanning filter with a linear gray scale. The difference between the values produced using the two methods was significant (p < 0.005).