Quantitation of SPECT performance: Report of Task Group 4, Nuclear Medicine Committee.

A comprehensive performance testing program is an essential ingredient of high-quality single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Many of the procedures previously published are complicated, time consuming, or require a special testing environment. This Task Group developed a protocol for evaluating SPECT imaging systems that was simple, practical, required minimal test equipment, and could be performed in a few hours using processing software available on all nuclear medicine computers. It was designed to test rotational stability of uniformity and sensitivity, tomographic spatial resolution, uniformity and contrast, and the accuracy of attenuation correction. It can be performed in less than three hours and requires only a Co-57 flood source, a line source, and a tomographic cylindrical phantom. The protocol was used 51 times on 42 different cameras (seven vendors) by four different individuals. The results were used to establish acceptable ranges for the measured parameters. The variation between vendors was relatively small and appeared to reflect slight differences in basic camera performance, collimation, and reconstruction software. Individuals can use the tabulated values to evaluate the performance of individual systems.

Pharmacokinetics, immune response, and biodistribution of iodine-131-labeled chimeric mouse/human IgG1,k 17-1A monoclonal antibody.

Pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity, and biodistribution of a 131I-labeled mouse/human chimeric monoclonal antibody (C-17-1A) was studied in six metastatic colon cancer patients. Pharmacokinetics obtained from serum radioactivity or chimera concentration were identical after 5 mCi of 131I-C-17-1A with mean alpha half-lives of 17.6 +/- 2.3 and 19.7 +/- 2.9 and mean beta half-lives of 100.9 +/- 16.1 and 106.4 +/- 14.1 hr, respectively. HPLC analysis documented the monomeric chimeric 17-1A without evidence of immune complexes or free 131I. None of the patients developed antibody after 131I-chimeric 17-1A exposure. Radiolocalization occurred in known areas of disease greater than 4 cm in all patients. The half-life of total-body radioactivity was 58 +/- 7 hr by whole-body counts and 64 +/- 13 hr by urine measurements. Whole-body and bone marrow dose estimates ranged from 0.75-1.03 and 0.76-1.05 rad/mCi, respectively. These studies confirm the prolonged circulation and reduced immunogenicity of chimeric 17-1A versus murine 17-1A. Marrow radiation exposure using antibodies with prolonged circulation is a critical factor in planning for radioimmunotherapeutic applications.

Radiologic equipment.

A summary of articles in the past year that were deemed pertinent to diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine equipment is presented. In diagnostic radiology, considerable work involving evaluation and considerations of digital schemes was noted, especially in chest radiography. Several review papers appeared that provide much information on digital techniques in one document. In the area of new developments, a design of a flat screen digital image intensifier has been reported, and a detection system for scanned projection radiography is described. As efficiency is quite important, the article concerning characteristics and evaluation of a 45-second film processor is timely. Developments in nuclear medicine included a four-headed scintillation camera, a new modular camera, and a new design for a positron emission scanner.

Measurement of renal parenchymal transit time of 99mTc-MAG3 using factor analysis.

Renal parenchymal transit time of the recently introduced radiopharmaceutical 99mTc-MAG3 (mercaptoacetylglycylglycinel) was measured in 37 kidneys, using factor analysis to separate parenchymal activity from that in the collecting system. A new factor algorithm was employed, based on prior interpolative background subtraction and use of the fact that the initial slope of the collecting system factor time-activity curve must be zero. The only operator intervention required was selection of a rectangular region enclosing the kidney (by identifying two points at opposite corners). Transit time was calculated from the factor time-activity curves both by deconvolution of the parenchymal factor curve and also by measuring the appearance time for collecting system activity from the collecting system factor curve. There was substantial agreement between the two methods. Factor analysis led to a narrower range of normal values than a conventional cortical region-of-interest method, presumably by decreasing crosstalk from the collecting system. In preliminary trials, the parenchymal transit time did not well separate four obstructed from seventeen unobstructed kidneys, but it successfully (p less than 0.05) separated six transplanted kidneys with acute rejection or acute tubular necrosis from 10 normal transplants.

The kidney: imaging with Tc-99m mercaptoacetyltriglycine, a technetium-labeled analog of iodohippurate.

A new renal imaging agent, technetium-99m mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3, mertiatide), is currently undergoing clinical trials. Like iodine-131 orthoiodohippurate (OIH)--and unlike all other available agents--it is avidly secreted by the renal tubules. Fifty patients underwent simultaneous renal imaging studies with I-131 OIH and Tc-99m MAG3. The superior physical properties of the Tc-99m label led to better image quality in all cases, largely due to count rates that were 50-fold better. In two patients, lesions were seen with MAG3 that were not visible with OIH. The biological properties of the two agents were found to be so similar that conventional diagnostic criteria for I-131 OIH could be used for Tc-99m MAG3 with only minor modifications.

Quantitation of renal function with technetium-99m MAG3.

The technetium-labeled hippuran analog [99mTc]MAG3 was compared with [131I]hippuran in 50 patients using a quantitative renal function protocol that includes: (a) estimation of effective renal plasma flow by a single-injection, single-sample plasma clearance method, (b) determination of relative function of right and left kidney from the initial count rate over each kidney, and (c) comparison of recovered urine activity with plasma disappearance. This protocol is suitable for routine clinical use, and, in fact, has been used heavily at our clinic for a number of years. By slight modification of the formulas, the results obtained with [99mTc]MAG3 agreed well with those using [131I]hippuran. We conclude that [99mTc]MAG3 can be substituted for [131I]hippuran in the quantitative protocol, with the better image quality and lower radiation dose (in abnormals) of a technetium-labeled agent.

Comparison of technetium-99m MAG3 with iodine-131 hippuran by a simultaneous dual channel technique.

Technetium-99m MAG3, a technetium-labeled analog of hippuran, was compared with [131I] hippuran using a simultaneous dual isotope study in 20 patients. The plasma clearance for MAG3 was lower than that of hippuran, but its plasma concentration was higher, resulting in similar rates of excretion and similar renal time-activity curves. Apart from better statistics with the technetium-labeled agent, there were no clinically significant differences in this group of patients.

Simulated pulmonary nodules: detection with dual-energy digital versus conventional radiography.

Performance of a prototype dual-energy digital chest radiography unit in detecting calcified and noncalcified simulated pulmonary nodules was compared with that of a highly optimized, conventional system. Nodules ranging in size (0.5, 1.0, and 1.6 cm), in number (five to 11), and in calcium content (0-25 mg) were superimposed over the lungs of a frozen, unembalmed, human chest phantom. For each technique, six observers examined 50 posteroanterior projections with different randomized nodule locations. Detection consisted of locating and assigning a level of confidence to each perceived nodular opacity. The resulting plots of the true-positive fraction versus the mean number of false-positive calls per projection indicate that for both calcified and noncalcified nodules, the digital unit performed significantly better (P less than .01).

Digital and conventional chest imaging: a modified ROC study of observer performance using simulated nodules.

A modified receiver operating characteristic (ROC) study was performed in which five readers were asked to locate multiple nodules on images of an anthropomorphic phantom obtained with a prototype digital radiographic chest unit and with a conventional chest unit. Results indicate that when nodules were projected over the lungs, a significantly greater number (significant at the 5% level) were identified on conventional radiographs, whereas for nodules projected over the mediastinum, the digital images were notably superior (difference significant at the 2% level). An error analysis of the multiple nodule problem and pseudo-ROC curves are presented. The modified ROC study does not suffer from the positional ambiguity inherent in most ROC studies and is efficient in acquiring data.

Measurement of glomerular filtration rate: single injection plasma clearance method without urine collection.

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) can be calculated from the plasma clearance of any of several radiopharmaceuticals that are excreted by glomerular filtration. Simplified methods have been proposed that require only one or two plasma samples in lieu of a more complete clearance curve. We examined the error introduced by this simplification. Forty patients were studied using a dual-isotope technique employing [99mTc]DTPA and [169Yb]DTPA, obtaining eight plasma samples for each clearance curve at intervals from 10 to 240 min after injection. Data were fit to several empirical or semiempirical formulae and also to a two-compartment computer model that permitted GFR estimation from only one or two data points. The computer model gave good fit, but so did several simpler methods. The error that results from replacing the complete clearance curve by a single 3-hr sample was about 8 ml/min (residual s.d.). By using two samples (at 1 and 3 hr), the error could be reduced to 4 ml/min. Recommended one- and two-sample methods are presented.

Measurement of glomerular filtration rate using 99mTc-DTPA and the gamma camera: a comparison of methods.

A variety of methods have been proposed to estimate the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) from the renal uptake of technetium Tc 99m-DTPA using a gamma camera. To compare alternative methods, we calculated the GFR in several different ways from measurements in 33 patients and compared the results with an independent GFR measurement based on eight-point plasma clearance of ytterbium Yb 169-DTPA. The best agreement was obtained using an algorithm that has not been described previously, in which correction was made for overlap of the kidneys by the liver and spleen. The correlation coefficient was 0.958, and the residual standard deviation was 12.1 ml/min. This method required a single 20-min blood sample as well as the camera data. The best method not requiring a blood sample was significantly less accurate, with a correlation coefficient of 0.837 and a residual standard deviation of 23.1 ml/min. The accuracy of these methods was comparable to that reported for creatinine clearance, the most commonly used estimate of the GFR in current clinical practice.

Self-masking subtraction tomosynthesis.

The authors tested the image quality and dose savings of self-masking subtraction tomosynthesis (SST), which combines digital tomosynthesis with subtraction of a blurred self-mask. High-quality images of the inner ear of a head phantom were obtained at moderate dose savings. Although they were taken with linear motion, they did not exhibit the streaking due to off-fulcrum objects that is characteristic of conventional linear tomography. SST could reduce patient dose by a factor of at least 12 in examinations of the inner ear, and the mechanical aspects can be implemented with moderate modifications of existing instrumentation.

Radionuclide angiography in the evaluation of ductal shunts in preterm infants.

Radionuclide angiograms were compared with radiographic and physical findings and with echocardiographic left atrial to aortic ratios in 30 neonates clinically suspected of having a persistent ductus arteriosus. In three infants without clinical signs and with normal LA/Ao ratios (10%), radionuclide angiograms provided evidence of a large left-to-right shunt, which was confirmed by the finding of a large ducts arteriosus at surgery. Whereas routine physical, radiographic, and echocardiographic criteria fail to identify some neonates with large PDA's, the present study suggests that radionuclide angiography can be performed in a neonatal intensive care unit setting and may be a valuable addition to currently employed diagnostic techniques.

Experimental measurements of the scatter reduction obtained in mammography with a scanning multiple slit assembly.

A nonconventional and sensitive method of measuring scatter is described. The method was employed to quantitate the scatter imaged in mammography with a conventional unit, a unit equipped with a grid, and a unit equipped with a scanning multiple slit assembly (SMSA). The results indicate that the grid technique significantly reduces the scatter imaged, while the SMSA virtually eliminates it. The resultant increase in large area contrast is readily apparent on radiographs with greater improvement obtained with the SMSA than with the grid. The effect of the increase in contrast on small detail visibility was assessed with a phantom having simulated fibrils and calcifications. Significantly more fibril and calcification detail was visible with the grid and SMSA technique than with the conventional technique. The detail visible with the grid and SMSA technique was comparable, and the lack of better performance by the SMSA unit is attributed to its poorer MTF.

Kilovoltage bootstrap sensitometry.

A new method for determining the sensitometric curve of radiographic film/screen combinations is described. The approach employs kVp variation at several mAs values to provide the necessary range of exposures. The method is simple and easy to perform and is presented along with experimental data for illustration. The sources and relative magnitude of errors associated with the technique are also discussed.