Attenuation correction in cardiac positron emission tomography and single-photon emission computed tomography

S BACHARACH, I BUVAT
1995 Journal of Nuclear Cardiology  
S t e p h e n L. B a c h a r a c h , PhD, a n d lr~ne Buvat, P h D Quantitation in cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) depends on being able to correct for several physical factors that tend to distort the data. One of the most important of these corrections is the correction for attenuation. For PET, cardiac attenuation correction is a reality, although certain problems remain to be solved. For SPECT, recent developments in gamma
more » ... era hardware and reconstruction methods have finally made it possible to attempt attenuation correction in a clinical setting. This article reviews the methods available to perform attenuation correction in both PET and SPECT, with emphasis on the commonality between the problems encountered and solutions proposed for each modality. (J NUCL CARDIOL 1995;2:246-55.) Key Words: Cardiac position emission tomography, single-photon emission computed tomography 9 attenuation correction It is widely recognized that the ability to correct cardiac emission data for the effects of attenuation may dramatically improve the clinical utility of the resulting reconstructed images. 1 In positron emission tomography (PET), such attenuation corrections are possible, although certain problems remain to be solved. In single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), the situation is more difficult. Many schemes have been proposed to measure attenuation values, and at least one of these methods is now available commercially. Much work remains before attenuation correction becomes as practical with SPECT as it is with PET, and validation studies have yet to be done. Nonetheless, hardware to measure SPECT attenuation maps and software to use those maps to perform attenuation correction are now on the market. This then seems an opportune moment to review the basic principles of attenuation correction and to summarize the approaches that have been proposed for performing attenuation correction. This review will concern itself with the approaches taken to address the three basic problems of attenuation correction: (1) how to determine the From the National
doi:10.1016/s1071-3581(05)80062-5 pmid:9420795 fatcat:br7yjnnslvdqniktjnfzfmiodi