Minimum Dose, Maximum SpeedThe world’s first and only ultra-fast myocardial perfusion imaging solution for general-purpose SPECT cameras

One of the key trends in nuclear medicine has been the ever-increasing demand for faster myocardial perfusion imaging. Historically, image quality has been limited by the number of detected photons.

Routine cardiac studies can take up to 20 minutes, limiting the number of patient scans. To achieve the desired image quality, patients are often injected with high doses that increase radiation exposure. 

Siemens IQ•SPECT is the only technology today that performs ultra-fast cardiac imaging with a general purpose camera. Its unique collimator design, cardio-centric image acquisition and advanced reconstruction technology acquires four-times more counts than conventional methods for high quality images independent of age, body shape or size. With IQ•SPECT, physicians can perform a myocardial perfusion imaging study in approximately 4 minutes using the standard dose, 8 minutes using half the standard dose or 16 minutes using one-quarter of the standard dose. 

With its SMARTZOOM collimators, modified cardio-centric acquisition and special reconstruction methods, IQ•SPECT is the solution for fast cardiac imaging using half the dose with twice the speed.

IQ•SPECT Technology

 

SMARTZOOM
Siemens SMARTZOOM collimators employ the magnifying properties of a cone-beam collimator near the center of the field of view and eliminating truncation at the edges of the field of view similar to a parallel-hole collimator. The unique position and shape of each hole in the collimator, also referred to as a vector map, is measured in the factory at Siemens and stored with the collimator to be used during reconstruction. The result is an increase of up to four-times more sensitivity.

 

Acquisition
IQ•SPECT positions the heart in the center of the collimator field of view and positions the detectors at a 28 cm radius for the cardio-centric orbit. IQ•SPECT uses the flex­ibility of the Symbia™ gantry to position each detector at an optimal distance to maximize sensitivity gain and minimize feelings of claustrophobia.

 

Reconstruction
The advanced IQ•SPECT reconstruction method is a proprietary implementa­tion of a conjugate-gradient iterative reconstruction algorithm. The algorithm is optimized to accurately reflect the measured geometry of the SMARTZOOM collimators and the cardio-centric orbit of the detectors. A 3D measurement of gantry deflection allows correction of gantry motion based image distortions. Measurements of hole size, shape, and pointing direction for all 48,000 holes in the SMARTZOOM collimator ensure accurate image reconstruction.