Advances in nuclear emission PET and SPECT imaging

Improvements in technology and methods have resulted in a field that is ready to unlock the body's secrets. The advancements reviewed in this article are remarkable. Just ten years ago, SPECT myocardial tomograms exhibited a spatial resolution of close to 2 cm and PET scanners were prohibitivel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE engineering in medicine and biology magazine 2000-09, Vol.19 (5), p.21-33
Main Authors: Garcia, E.V., Faber, T.L., Galt, J.R., Cooke, C.D., Folks, R.D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Artificial Intelligence
Biology
Brain Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging
Cameras
Computer displays
Computerized tomography
Costs
Echocardiography
Electromagnetic wave attenuation
Expert systems
Heart Diseases - diagnostic imaging
High-resolution imaging
Humans
Image analysis
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods
Image quality
Imaging
Instrumentation
Instruments
Multidimensional systems
Myocardium
Photons
Positron emission
Positron emission tomography
Radioisotopes
Scanners
Spatial resolution
Tomography
Tomography, Emission-Computed - economics
Tomography, Emission-Computed - instrumentation
Tomography, Emission-Computed - trends
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon - economics
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon - instrumentation
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon - trends
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Summary:Improvements in technology and methods have resulted in a field that is ready to unlock the body's secrets. The advancements reviewed in this article are remarkable. Just ten years ago, SPECT myocardial tomograms exhibited a spatial resolution of close to 2 cm and PET scanners were prohibitively expensive. The instrumentation reviewed can image down to a 1.8 mm spatial resolution, and high-performance PET scanners and PET/SPECT cameras are being routinely sold for one-third the cost of the high-end PET scanners of ten years ago. These gains, coupled with the relative ease of developing positron-emitting radiopharmaceuticals, opens a new chapter in physiologic imaging. Add to this that these modalities are inherently digital, facilitating their progress in totally automatic analysis; multidimensional, multimodality display; and computer-assisted image interpretation by the use of AI techniques. The result is a field poised to unlock the secrets of the body's functions, when the only limitation is one's own imagination and the number of scientists working to bring it to its full potential.
ISSN:0739-5175
1937-4186
DOI:10.1109/51.870228