Calculation and validation of the use of effective attenuation coefficient for attenuation correction in In-111 SPECT

Journal Article · Thu Dec 15 04:00:00 EST 2005 · Medical Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1118/1.2128084· OSTI ID:20726861

Seo, Youngho; Wong, Kenneth H; Hasegawa, Bruce H ^[1]

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1. Physics Research Laboratory, Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143 (United States)

Nuclear medicine tracers using {sup 111}In as a radiolabel are increasing in their use, especially in the domain of oncologic imaging. In these applications, it often is critical to have the capability of quantifying radionuclide uptake and being able to relate it to the biological properties of the tumor. However, images from single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) can be degraded by photon attenuation, photon scattering, and collimator blurring; without compensation for these effects, image quality can be degraded, and accurate and precise quantification is impossible. Although attenuation correction for SPECT is becoming more common, most implementations can only model single energy radionuclides such as {sup 99m}Tc and {sup 123}I. Thus, attenuation correction for {sup 111}In is challenging because it emits two photons (171 and 245 keV) at nearly equal rates (90.2% and 94% emission probabilities). In this paper, we present a method of calculating a single 'effective' attenuation coefficient for the dual-energy emissions of {sup 111}In, and that can be used to correct for photon attenuation in radionuclide images acquired with this radionuclide. Using this methodology, we can derive an effective linear attenuation coefficient {mu}{sub eff} and an effective photon energy E{sub eff} based on the emission probabilities and linear attenuation coefficients of the {sup 111}In photons. This approach allows us to treat the emissions from {sup 111}In as a single photon with an effective energy of 210 keV. We obtained emission projection data from a tank filled with a uniform solution of {sup 111}In. The projection data were reconstructed using an iterative maximum-likelihood algorithm with no attenuation correction, and with attenuation correction assuming photon energies of 171, 245, and 210 keV (the derived E{sub eff}). The reconstructed tomographic images demonstrate that the use of no attenuation correction, or correction assuming photon energies of 171 or 245 keV introduces inaccuracies into the reconstructed radioactivity distribution when compared against the effective energy method. In summary, this work provides both a theoretical framework and experimental methodology of attenuation correction for the dual-energy emissions from {sup 111}In. Although these results are specific to {sup 111}In, the foundation could easily be extended to other multiple-energy isotopes.

• OSTI ID: 20726861
• Journal Information: Medical Physics, Journal Name: Medical Physics Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 32; ISSN 0094-2405; ISSN MPHYA6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY
ALGORITHMS
ATTENUATION
COLLIMATORS
CORRECTIONS
IMAGES
INDIUM 111
IODINE 123
ITERATIVE METHODS
MAXIMUM-LIKELIHOOD FIT
NEOPLASMS
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
SINGLE PHOTON EMISSION COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY
TECHNETIUM 99
VALIDATION