Scintigraphic imaging with tantalum-178 and the Anger scintillation camera: concise communication.

Tantalum-178 is a short-liver radionuclide (T 1/2 = 9.3 min.) and emits primarily 56- to 64-keV characteristic x-rays. We have determined the imaging characteristics with this radionuclide and a large-field-of-view Anger camera. With a pinhole collimator, good spatial resolution is possible with Ta-178, although the image quality is superior with Tc-99m under comparable conditions. Spatial resolution with parallel-hole or converging collimators was much less satisfactory with Ta-178 because of septal penetration by high-energy photons. Pulmonary perfusion and liver-spleen images of excellent quality were obtained in the rabbit using the pinhole collimator and Ta-178-labeled agents.