Abstract:
Objective To investigate the effect of spiral acquisition (Swiftscan) mode on the image quality of 99Tcm-sestamibi (MIBI) SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI).
Methods A cross-sectional study design was employed and a retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical and imaging data of 34 patients with suspected or confirmed coronary artery disease who underwent both rest and stress 99Tcm-MIBI SPECT MPI at the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region People's Hospital from February to June 2024. The patients included 23 males and 11 females, with a median age of 60 years. Compared the MPI image quality parameters between the Swiftscan SPECT mode and the traditional step-to-shoot (SS) acquisition mode groups. These parameters compared between the two groups were: the sharpness of the left ventricular wall edge (maximum slope of count reduction on the sidewall epicardial boundary (slope) ), left ventricular wall thickness (full width at half maximum (FWHM) ), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and the percentage of the 17-segment of left ventricular myocardial perfusion score. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare the slope, FWHM, CNR, SNR, and the percentage of the 17-segment of left ventricular myocardial perfusion score between the Swiftscan and SS groups. Bland-Altman analysis was employed to assess the agreement in the percentage of the 17-segment of left ventricular myocardial perfusion score.
Results The sharpness of the left ventricular wall edge in the Swiftscan group was significantly higher than that in the SS group (0.012(0.004, 0.025) vs. 0.006(0.001, 0.016), Z=−3.30, P<0.05). The FWHM in the Swiftscan group was higher than that in the SS group (7.87(7.03, 20.11) mm vs. 7.52(6.93, 19.59) mm, Z=−2.17, P<0.05). The CNR and SNR in the Swiftscan group were also significantly higher than those in the SS group (7.90(6.45, 8.78) vs. 6.48(5.50, 8.25) and 27.95(23.06, 41.47) vs. 22.19(16.89, 28.78), Z=−2.09, −3.00; all P<0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed in the percentage of the 17-segment of left ventricular myocardial perfusion score between the two acquisition modes (Z=−1.92 to −0.02, all P>0.05). Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated good agreement in the percentage of the 17-segment of left ventricular myocardial perfusion score between the two acquisition modes, with a bias of 3.52(95%CI: −6.81 to 7.01).
Conclusion The Swiftscan acquisition mode can significantly improve the quality of 99Tcm-MIBI SPECT MPI images.