ObjectiveTo explore the advantages of heterogeneous fusion in diagnosing gastric cancer by comparing the images obtained from ¹⁸F-FDG SPECT/CT and 64-multislice spiral CT heterogeneous fusion.

MethodsClinical and radiological image data were collected from 35 patients examined by both ¹⁸F-FDG SPECT/CT and 64-multislice spiral CT. All the 35 patients suffered from gastric cancer. These patients showed a total of 56 masses, which were grouped into three types, namely, gastric tumor, metastatic lymph node, and distant metastasis. The images processed by homogeneous and heterogeneous technologies were compared in terms of size, mass boundary, and image artifacts. Chi-square test was used to compare the enumeration data between the two groups.

ResultsThe gastric cancer group comprised a total of 28 cases. The number of cases with image quality of grades 1, 2, and 3 after homogeneous fusion technology was 8, 14, and 6 and that after heterogeneous fusion technology was 25, 3, and 0, respectively. The metastatic lymph node group comprised a total of 19 cases. The number of cases with image quality of grades 1, 2, and 3 after homogeneous fusion technology was 7, 5, and 7, and that after heterogeneous fusion technology was 17, 2, and 0, respectively. The distant metastasis group comprised a total of 9 cases. The number of cases with image quality of grades 1, 2, and 3 after homogeneous fusion technology was 0, 3, and 6 and that after heterogeneous fusion technology was 8, 1, and 0, respectively. Significant differences were noted between the images obtained from homogenous and heterogeneous fusion technologies, and the images obtained from the latter were better than those of the former (χ²=21.875, 12.452, and 15.000, all P < 0.05).

ConclusionThe heterogeneous fusion technology of ¹⁸F-FDG SPECT/CT and the 64-slice spiral CT can compensate for the deficiencies of the homogeneous fusion technology of ¹⁸F-FDG SPECT/CT in terms of display, evaluation, and metastatic detection of gastric cancer.