General Objective of the Project

The goal of the project is to study the influence the respiratory and diaphragmatic motion to Myocardial Perfusion Imaging using nuclear medicine procedures and a respiratory-diaphragm motion phantom, implemented within the existing anthropomorphic phantom, together with the existing dynamic normal/abnormal cardiac phantom.

Specific Scientific and Technological Objectives of the Project

(a) Develop a computer-controlled respiratory motion phantom and implement it within the existing anthropomorphic phantom together with dynamic normal/abnormal cardiac phantom,

(b) Acquire and process images of the phantom cardiac normal and abnormal conditions under the influence the respiratory and diaphragmatic motion,

(c) Study and conclude qualitatively and quantitative on the influence of respiratory motion to attenuation corrected myocardial perfusion SPECT images by matching and spatially misaligning emission and transmission phases at varying respiratory phases,

(d) Correct SPECT images for the motion that occurs between cardiac and respiratory phases using the image-based method.

(e) Determine the imaging procedure that results in the best diagnostic value, considering the influence the respiratory and diaphragmatic motion and also patient dose as a constraint.