Single photon emission computed tomography.

Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is becoming an increasingly important part of routine clinical nuclear medicine. By providing tomographic reconstructions in multiple planes through the patient, SPECT expands the clinical applications in nuclear medicine as well as providing better contrast, edge definition and separation of target from background activities. Imaging techniques have been developed for the evaluation of regional cerebral blood flow using radiolabeled amines. Thus cerebral functional imaging can be used in the diagnosis of acute cerebral infarction, cerebral vascular disease, dementia and epilepsy. SPECT plays a complementary role in the evaluation of coronary artery disease, particularly when it is coupled with thallium-201 and exercise testing. SPECT extends our diagnostic capabilities in additional areas, such as liver and bone scintigraphy as well as tumor imaging with gallium-67.