Talk:Single photon emission computed tomography

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Question:

"SPECT Images are measured in unit called counts/sec. Can anyone help me in understanding what this unit means?" [Shanx]

Attempted Answer:

The image visible on SPECT is representative of accumulated radioactive 'tracer' chemicals in various brain regions. The "count" is how may particles of radioactive decay is seen by the scanner from that particular coordinate. The scanner will detect multiple counts per second. There is a calculation that will also turn "counts per second" into the more useful measurement "disintegrations per second". One disintegration per second is equal to one bequerel (1 Bq) of radioactivity - the current standardized units of radioactive measurement. If the specific activity (how much radioactivity is in a certain quantity of tracer) of the tracer used is known - and it will be - then you can use this information to determine exactly how much of the tracer was in the brain region of interest. The regional distribution of the tracer will then tell you something about the behaviour of relevant binding sites in the brain and their locations - which is very valuable when attempting to ascertain the function of specific systems in the brain.

Hopefully that helps somewhat, let me know if I need to readdress anything. --ARCrawford 13:36, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, this helps. Have another question on SPECT Imaging though -

Question:

"Normally SPECT Images are taken as "Multi Frame Images". What is the meaning of Multi frame images? How is it taken?"

[Shanx, 6:13pm, 04 july 2006]

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