Image quality versus statistical power

We investigated whether SPET studies of neuroactivation might benefit from a similar approach used in PET; that is, increase the number of scans per task and accept poorer individual scan quality. Different study paradigms were simulated by varying the scanning parameters: (1) administered radiation activity per scan, (2) number of scans per task and (3) scan acquisition time. The maximum total dose received by each simulated subject remained the same. Areas of activation of varying signal strength were added to the scans using a customized graphics package. To establish the statistical benefits of a replication paradigm versus a non-replication paradigm, the datasets were analysed using SPM95 statistics software. This simulation was able to show that, when an SPM investigation is used for data analysis, study replication is more important than the individual image quality typically available from a high-performance SPET system.