SPECT Offers Imaging Advantages, reveals Kalorama report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Manhattan, New York, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) November 19, 2010 --

Gamma Camera or SPECT is one of the fast growing sectors of the molecular imaging market, according to healthcare market research publisher Kalorama Information in its report, Medical Imaging Markets: Molecular Imaging http://www.kaloramainformation.com/Medical-Imaging-Molecular-2613825/. A gamma camera is commonly used for nuclear imaging. It produces images of the distribution of gamma ray emitting radionuclides. A gamma camera consists of one or more detectors mounted on a gantry. It is connected to an acquisition system for operating the camera and for storing the images. The system accumulates counts of gamma photons that are absorbed by a large flat crystal of sodium iodide with thallium doping in a light-sealed housing in the camera.

The crystal scintillates in response to incident gamma radiation. When a gamma photon knocks an electron loose from an iodine atom in the crystal, a faint flash of light is produced when the electron again finds a minimal energy state. The initial phenomenon of the excited electron is similar to the photoelectric effect. After the flash of light is produced, it must be detected. Photo multiplier tubes (PMTs) behind the crystal detect the fluorescent flashes and a computer sums the fluorescent counts. Software constructs and displays a two dimensional image of the relative spatial count density on a monitor. This image then reflects the distribution and relative concentration of radioactive tracer elements present in the organs and tissues imaged. As the camera rotates around a patient, it creates a series of planar images. At each stop, only photons moving perpendicular to the camera face pass through the camera’s collimator. As many of these photons originate from various depths in the patient, the result is an overlapping of all tracer emitting organs along the specific path, much in the same manner that a radiograph is a superposition of all anatomical structures from three dimensions into two dimensions. A SPECT study consists of many planar images acquired at various angles -- a set of projections. After all the projections are acquired, they are subdivided by taking all the projections for a single, thin slice of the patient at a time. All the projections for each slice are then ordered into an image called a sonogram. It represents the projection of the tracer distribution in the body into a single slice on the camera at every angle of the acquisition.

The radioactive substances used in SPECT—xenon-133, technetium-99, iodine-123—have longer decay times than those used in PET, and emit single instead of double gamma rays. SPECT can provide information about blood flow and the distribution of radioactive substances in the body. Its images have less sensitivity and are less detailed than PET images, but the SPECT technique is less expensive than PET. Also, SPECT centers are more accessible than PET centers because they do not have to be located near a particle accelerator.

Among the applications for SPECT imaging: Heart Imaging; Brain Imaging; Kidney/Renal Imaging; and Bone Scans. SPECT can complement any gamma imaging study, in which a true three-dimensional representation can be helpful, such as in tumor imaging, infection (leukocyte) imaging, thyroid imaging or bone imaging. Because SPECT permits accurate localization in three-dimensional space, it can be used to provide information about localized function in internal organs, such as functional cardiac or brain imaging.

More information on SPECT markets as well as markets for CT, MRI and Ultrasound systems used for molecular imaging can be found at Kalorama Information’s market research report: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/Medical-Imaging-Molecular-2613825/.

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