Application of the Laplace operator to scintigraphic images: comparison with conventional scintigraphy and digital filtering.

The curvature scintigram is an image, obtained by applying the Laplace operator to nuclear medicine images, that shows local variations of count rate density. Applications to liver scintigrams are described. The diagnostic quality of the curvature scintigram is compared with that of the conventional and digitally filtered scintigrams, using a series of patients who have been categorized by histology or by transmission computer tomography. From our results, the curvature scintigram demonstrates an improvement over the subjective findings of clinicians. It enables the detection of an increased number of true-positives and a reduced number of false-positives.