Simultaneous emission and transmission measurements as an adjunct to dynamic planar gamma camera studies

Anatomical imaging provides useful information which complements functional imaging performed using a gamma camera. We have previously used transmission measurements in single-photon emission tomography acquired simultaneously with the emission scan using either a plane flood source or a moving line source for attenuation and scatter correction. This approach is equally applicable in planar imaging and provides useful information to assist in detecting patient motion and in defining regions of interest in dynamic studies. We have adapted a moving transmission line source to acquire dynamic geometric mean measurements in the study of the mucociliary clearance of inhaled technetium-99m labelled colloids with a single-headed rotating gamma camera. The line source makes a return pass for each emission acquisition frame (alternating anterior/posterior views), each pass being initiated by a signal from the gamma camera. The result is a dynamic sequence of emission and transmission measurements obtained from a single acquisition. In this application transmission measurements are used to define the lung outline for clearance determination and to check for subject movement throughout the duration of the study.