Comparison and progresses of the imaging methods: dedicated cardiac CZT SPECT versus traditional SPECT

Single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT)myocardial perfusion imaging(MPI), as a non-invasive imaging technology, has been widely applied in clinical practice for diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD), risk stratification, evaluation of the prognosis and therapeutic efficiency.But the traditional Anger SPECT has some noted limitations, such as relatively a large amount of administered radiation doses, prolonged imaging time, lower spatial resolution and hardly performing quantative analysis[such as coronary folw reserve(CFR)], which restrict precise diagnosis for CAD and its further clinical applications.In recent years, the dedicated cardiac SPECT equipped with cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) semiconductor detector is brought into the clinic, and this new device is able to make up the limitations above. Comparing with the traditional MPI imaging protocols, this article reviewed the current situation of the imaging methods and related research progresses of the dedicated cardiac CZT SPECT. Key words: Cadmium zinc telluride semiconductor detector; Myocardial perfusion imaging; Coronary folw reserve; Single photon emission computed tomography