A Comparison of Iterative Reconstruction and Prone Imaging in Reducing the Inferior Wall Attenuation in Tc-99m Sestamibi Myocardial Perfusion SPECT

Prone positioning, iterative reconstruction (IR-OSEM) and electrocardiography (ECG) gating have been demonstrated to improve the specificity of myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. Methods: The gated supine and prone MPS images of 45 patients were reconstructed with both IR-OSEM [supine (SIR) and prone (PIR)] FBPs [supine (SFBP), prone (PFBP)] for comparison. Perfusion, wall motion (WM) and wall thickening were also interpreted semi-quantitatively. Two groups were generated as those with normal or abnormal findings. Segmental myocardial tracer uptake values were noted from four of the reconstructed images from 17 segment model of bullseye. Results: The difference between mean values and the standard deviations of the % tracer uptakes of inferior wall segments were statistically significant in all images. The normalcy rates were highest in PIR images, followed by PFBP and SIR images. The number of patients with any perfusion abnormality were 42, 12, 32, and 6, in SFBP, PFBP, SIR and PIR images, respectively. The six patients with perfusion abnormality in PIR images were re-evaluated with rest images and were diagnosed with a fixed perfusion defect. There was positive correlation between WM and either PFBP or PIR images. Sixteen patients’ WM were evaluated as abnormal while only 6 patients’ perfusions were abnormal in PIR. Conclusion: Prone imaging in addition to a supine perfusion SPECT improves imaging quality of the inferior wall, especially when reconstructed with iterative methods. If prone imaging can not be performed, ECG-gating can also be used as a beneficial method.