Yoo Ikdong, Choi Eun Kyoung, Chung Yong-An
Department of Radiology, Incheon Saint Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, #56 Dongsuro, Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, 403-720 South Korea.
Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2017 Jun;51(2):101-105. doi: 10.1007/s13139-016-0417-x. Epub 2016 Apr 22.
The first step to nuclear medicine in Korea started with introduction of the gamma camera in 1969. Although planar images with the gamma camera give important functional information, they have the limitations that result from 2-dimensional images. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) due to its 3-dimensional image acquisition is superior to earlier planar gamma imaging in image resolution and diagnostic accuracy. As demand for a hybrid functional and anatomical imaging device has increased, integrated SPECT/CT systems have been used. In Korea, SPECT/CT was for the first time installed in 2003. SPECT/CT can eliminate many possible pitfalls on SPECT-alone images, making better attenuation correction and thereby improving image quality. Therefore, SPECT/CT is clinically preferred in many hospitals in various aspects. More recently, additional SPECT/CT images taken from the region with equivocal uptake on planar images have been helpful in making precise interpretation as part of their clinical workup in postoperative thyroid cancer patients. SPECT and SPECT/CT have various advantages, but its clinical application has gradually decreased in recent few years. While some researchers investigated the myocardial blood flow with cardiac PET using F-18 FDG or N-13 ammonia, myocardial perfusion SPECT is, at present, the radionuclide imaging study of choice for the risk stratification and guiding therapy in the coronary artery disease patients in Korea. New diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals for AD have received increasing attention; nevertheless, brain SPECT will remain the most reliable modality evaluating cerebral perfusion.
韩国核医学的第一步始于1969年伽马相机的引进。尽管伽马相机的平面图像能提供重要的功能信息，但它们存在二维图像所带来的局限性。单光子发射计算机断层扫描（SPECT）由于其三维图像采集方式，在图像分辨率和诊断准确性方面优于早期的平面伽马成像。随着对功能与解剖成像相结合设备的需求增加，集成SPECT/CT系统开始得到应用。在韩国，SPECT/CT于2003年首次安装。SPECT/CT可以消除许多仅用SPECT图像时可能出现的问题，实现更好的衰减校正，从而提高图像质量。因此，SPECT/CT在许多医院的临床应用中在各个方面都更受青睐。最近，对于甲状腺癌术后患者，从平面图像上摄取不明确区域额外拍摄的SPECT/CT图像，有助于在其临床检查中进行精确解读。SPECT和SPECT/CT有各种优势，但近年来其临床应用逐渐减少。虽然一些研究人员使用F-18 FDG或N-13氨通过心脏PET研究心肌血流，但目前，心肌灌注SPECT仍是韩国冠状动脉疾病患者进行风险分层和指导治疗的首选放射性核素成像研究。用于阿尔茨海默病（AD）的新型诊断放射性药物受到越来越多的关注；尽管如此，脑SPECT仍将是评估脑灌注最可靠的检查方法。
