Excerpt

No charge is more important to nuclear cardiology than that of efficiently providing accurate results at low radiation doses. Keeping the radiation dose low requires that we do a better job of detecting photons emitted from the myocardium and do a better job of utilizing each photon we detect. This quest has drastically increased the diversity of reconstruction techniques and instrumentation for SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging. Each reconstruction technique produces images with its own unique texture. Each novel device introduces new considerations for the technologist acquiring the scan and new considerations for the clinician interpreting the images including unique patterns of normal and unique artifacts. When quantitative analysis is performed, normal databases developed with standard equipment and techniques may no longer be appropriate.1,2 The study that inspired this editorial details the construction of ²⁰¹Tl normal databases for one of one such system, IQ·SPECT, in a distinctive population (Japan).3 …