Effect of deadtime loss on quantitative measurement of cerebral blood flow with technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime

Deadtime count loss may cause error in quantitative measurements with a gamma camera. We evaluated the effect of deadtime loss on the measurement of cerebral blood flow (CBF). Radionuclide angiography with technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (99mTc-HMPAO) was performed in 20 patients. A reference source was placed on the periphery of the detector to monitor deadtime loss, and CBF was calculated based on the data of radionuclide angiography with and without deadtime correction. In ten patients injected with 1110 MBq of the tracer, the CBF value without correction was 9.9%+/-1.8% higher than that with correction. This shows that deadtime loss may cause significant overestimation. The difference between CBF values obtained with and without correction was smaller in ten patients with an injected dose of 370 MBq (3.0%+/-1.2%). These results suggest a substantial effect of deadtime loss on CBF as measured by radionuclide angiography and 99mTc-HMPAO.