Investigation of dynamic SPECT measurements of the arterial input function in human subjects using simulation, phantom and human studies.

Computer simulations, a phantom study and a human study were performed to determine whether a slowly rotating single-photon computed emission tomography (SPECT) system could provide accurate arterial input functions for quantification of myocardial perfusion imaging using kinetic models. The errors induced by data inconsistency associated with imaging with slow camera rotation during tracer injection were evaluated with an approach called SPECT/P (dynamic SPECT from positron emission tomography (PET)) and SPECT/D (dynamic SPECT from database of SPECT phantom projections). SPECT/P simulated SPECT-like dynamic projections using reprojections of reconstructed dynamic (94)Tc-methoxyisobutylisonitrile ((94)Tc-MIBI) PET images acquired in three human subjects (1 min infusion).