Determination of organ volume by single-photon emission tomography.

A method for estimation of organ volume is proposed, based on analysis of individual slices obtained from SPET images. In a phantom simulating clinical circumstances, the data show that the level a threshold at 46% of the maximum activity predicts most closely the true volume over a wide range above one liter. The level at 45% predicted better volumes of less than one liter. For phantoms of 839 ml or less, the error was 6.3 ml (one standard error of estimation). This level seems to be independent of the plane or position of the phantom and also independent of the amount of scattering material around it. Nonradioactive voids ("holes") within a phantom may be included or excluded at will when their edges are not tangent to the edge of the phantom. In such cases, their edges are not distinguishable from the edge of the phantom and their volumes are excluded. Knowledge of organ volumes has both diagnostic and therapeutic importance and could lead to a more precisely quantitated total of the radioactivity contained in an organ or space.