Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 10.1: (See color insert.) PET/CT. (a) Siemens Biograph
r
mCT.
(b) 5-min ultraHD PET study of an obese patient with lung CA (data courtesy
of University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA).
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 10.2: (See color insert.) SPECT/CT. (a) Siemens Symbia
r
T16
Truepoint
SPECT/CT. (b) SPECT/CT delineation of subchondral cyst in
left knee joint (data courtesy of PRP Cumberland Diagnostic Imaging, New
South Wales, Australia).
™
10.2 Combining PET and SPECT
Today, the direct combination of SPECT and PET is available only for
animal imaging with devices like the Inveon
r
[4]. Such a combination (Fig-
ure 10.3) allows optimization of the tracers used to visualize selected biochemi-
cal processes. While PET tracers are usually labeled with relatively short-lived
positron emitters, there are several single photon emitters with longer half-
life that enable the characterization of metabolic pathways with longer time
factors.
Such systems can also be combined with a CT device to overlay the
PET and/or SPECT information with the anatomical structure of the spec-
imen studied. Clinical studies would have to be conducted on individual
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