Investigation of the physical effects of respiratory motion compensation in a large population of patients undergoing Tc-99m cardiac perfusion SPECT/CT stress imaging

J Nucl Cardiol. 2020 Feb;27(1):80-95. doi: 10.1007/s12350-017-0890-3. Epub 2017 Apr 21.

Abstract

Background: Respiratory motion can deteriorate image fidelity in cardiac perfusion SPECT. We determined the extent of respiratory motion, assessed its impact on image fidelity, and investigated the existence of gender differences, thereby examining the influence of respiratory motion in a large population of patients.

Methods: One thousand one hundred and three SPECT/CT patients underwent visual tracking of markers on their anterior surface during stress acquisition to track respiratory motion. The extent of motion was estimated by registration. Visual indicators of changes in cardiac slices with motion correction, and the correlation between the extent of motion with changes in segmental-counts were assessed.

Results: Respiratory motion in the head-to-feet direction was the largest component of motion, varying between 1.1 and 37.4 mm, and was statistically significantly higher (p = 0.002) for males than females. In 33.0% of the patients, motion estimates were larger than 10 mm. Patients progressively show more distinct visual changes with an increase in the extent of motion. The increase in segmental-count differences in the anterior, antero-lateral, and inferior segments correlated with the extent of motion.

Conclusions: Respiratory motion correction diminished the artefactual reduction in anterior and inferior wall counts associated with respiratory motion. The extent of improvement was strongly related to the magnitude of motion.

Keywords: Cardiac perfusion; Motion tracking; Respiratory motion estimation and correction; SPECT/CT.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Artifacts*
  • Female
  • Heart Diseases / diagnostic imaging*
  • Heart Diseases / physiopathology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Motion
  • Myocardial Perfusion Imaging*
  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Respiratory Mechanics / physiology*
  • Sex Factors
  • Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi