What is scintigraphy or SPECT?
In scintigraphy the gamma – rays emitted by the radionuclide present in the radiopharmaceutical interacts with the NaI (Tl) crystal present in the gamma- camera imaging system and the signals emitted are processed with the help of computers to get the image of the organ. Where and how much (qualitative and quantitative) of the injected radiopharmaceutical has concentrated or not (hot spot or cold spot) when compared to the normal uptake limits, thereby diagnosing the problem both related to the morphology and function of that organ. These studies when performed over a period of time after the administration of radiopharmaceutical, give dynamic picture regarding the dynamic functioning status of the organ like ejection fraction of the heart in MUGA study. In SPECT (Single Photon Emission Tomography ) the camera rotates through 3600 around the organ and visualize the organ in three dimensions, this enables to get the slices of the image of the organ and thereby improving the resolution..
