Browsing by Author "Guner, Levent A."

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    Evaluating the Role of Routine Prone Acquisition on Visual Evaluation of SPECT Images
    (SOC NUCLEAR MEDICINE INC, 2015-01-01) Guner, Levent A.; Caliskan, Billur; Isik, Ilknur; Aksoy, Tamer; Vardareli, Erkan; Parspur, Afsin
    Attenuation artifacts reduce our ability to evaluate perfusion of affected myocardial segments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of routine prone-position image evaluation within a stepwise visual interpretation of myocardial perfusion studies. Methods: We have included 279 consecutive patients who were referred for evaluation of myocardial ischemia. All patients underwent routine electrocardiogram-gated supine SPECT imaging and non-electrocardiogram-gated prone-position SPECT imaging. Three nuclear medicine physicians interpreted the images in the following order: polar maps, supine images, raw images, motion-frozen gated images, and prone images, using a scale of 0-4. Segments with perfusion abnormalities were noted. Results: All physicians reported lower proportions of equivocal evaluations after evaluating prone images (18.3\% vs. 4.7\%, 19\% vs. 11.1\%, and 12.2\% vs. 6.1\%, P < 0.0001, P = 0.0077, and P = 0.0125, respectively). At the prone stage, normalcy rates were 89\%, 87\%, and 91\%. Two physicians had significantly increased normalcy rates at the prone stage (72\%-89\%, P = 0.039, and 66\%87\%, P = 0.006). At the prone stage, a decision reversal to normal or probably normal was observed in 40\% (29/72), 33\% (17/51), and 43\% (21/48). In men, apical, mid, and basal inferior walls and in women apical and mid parts of anterior walls were more likely to be attributed to attenuation. The 2 steps that increased normalcy rates for interpreters were the review of raw images and of prone images. Conclusion: Routine prone imaging increases interpretive certainty and interobserver agreement and changes the final evaluation in a substantial number of patients and significantly decreases the number of equivocal evaluations.