360-DEGREES OR 180-DEGREES FOR BONE SPECT OF THE SPINE

Acquisitions of 360-degrees are usually performed for bone single phot on emission computed tomography (SPECT). However, the spine is a perip heral and median structure; it therefore seemed interesting to compare the 360-degrees and the posterior 180-degrees SPECT images. In a phan tom study and in 25 adult patients, the 360-degrees SPECT images were compared with the posterior 180-degrees images obtained during the sam e acquisition: the posterior 180-degrees images are at least equivalen t to the 360-degrees images. With a reduction in the examination time, SPECT could become easier to perform, especially in patients sufferin g from back pain.