An Algorithm for Individual Dosage in Cadmium–Zinc–Telluride SPECT-Gated Radionuclide Angiography

The aim of the present study was to test an individualised dose without compromising the ease of analysing data when performing equilibrium radionuclide angiography (ERNA) using cadmium–zinc–telluride (CZT) SPECT. From March 2018 to January 2019, 1650 patients referred for ERNA received either an individualised dose of 99mTc-labeled human serum albumin (HSA) according to their age, sex, height, and weight (n = 1567), or a standard dose of 550 MBq (n = 83). The target count rate (CRT) was reduced every two months from 2.7 to 1.0 kcps. A final test with a CRT of 1.7 kcps was run for three months to test whether an agreement within 2% points for the determination of LVEF, on the basis of only two analyses, was obtainable in at least 95% of acquisitions. All the included ERNAs were performed on a dedicated cardiac CZT SPECT camera. When using the algorithm for an individualised dose, we found that agreement between the measured and predicted count rate was 80%. With a CRT of 1.7 kcps, the need for more than two analyses to obtain sufficient agreement for LVEF was 4.9%. Furthermore, this resulted in a mean dose reduction from 550 to 258 MBq. Patients’ weight, height, sex, and age can, therefore, be used for individualising a tracer dose while reducing the mean dose.

Chronic postembolic pulmonary embolism: the role of radionuclide imaging

Chronic postembolic pulmonary embolism (CTEPH) is the result of chronic pulmonary artery obstruction followed by pulmonary embolism. The frequency of CTEPH in patients with pulmonary embolism is approximately 3.8 %. Despite signifcant progress of pulmonary embolism management, the diagnosis of CTEPH remains diffcult. The current review is devoted to the opportunities of radionuclide methods in patients with CTEPH. The information about ventilation­perfusion scintigraphy, equilibrium radionuclide angiography, myocardial perfusion scintigraphy as well as cardiac scintigraphy with 123I­MIBG is presented.