SPET of the Abdomen

Abstract

Unlike studies of cerebral and myocardial perfusion the clinical role of SPET imaging of the abdomen has not been so immediately apparent. This has in part been due to the complex nature of the abdominal organs but, mainly because of the changing nature of the radiopharmaceuticals of clinical relevance to the abdomen. The main organs of interest are the liver and spleen, kidneys and adrenals, pancreas, gastrointestinal tract, great vessels and vertebrae. The introduction of rotating gamma cameras enabled the routine acquisition of tomographic data. However, during this period the introduction of high resolution X-ray CT, MRI and ultrasound has led to a demise in the demand for some of the more previously established radionuclide investigations such as liver scanning. Previously it has been common practice for much SPET imaging to be undertaken as an addition to planar imaging, rather than using it as the main imaging modality. In many instances, since gamma cameras could be easily used for acquiring tomographic data, SPET studies were merely tagged onto the end of planar imaging studies. This approach had little merit since the time the patient spent under the camera could be considerable if spot views, whole body scanning and tomographic imaging are all undertaken and in many studies little additional information to the spot views was obtained.