Torso and heart dimensions of cardiac SPECT patients

In this work, the range of the patient geometries typically encountered in myocardial perfusion scans was determined. Myocardial patient data was available from two different sources-a database of patient scans from a Picker P2000 SPECT scanner and another database of scans from a 21-slice Posicam PET scanner. These data were sorted into six classes according to sex and weight of the patients. The weight classes were Extra Large (XL), Large (L), and Small/Medium (SM) defined by relative frequencies of 15%, 35% and 50%. From each scan, patient geometry information was condensed into 5 parameters-torso width, torso thickness, and diameter and location of the left ventricle. For each class, a maximum torso was defined and a common volume was defined which contained all left ventricles in the class. These class parameters provide information on field-of-view requirements for cardiac imaging systems, and in particular have applications in the design of SPECT scanners with converging collimators