Measurement of absolute myocardial blood flow in humans using dynamic cardiac SPECT and 99m Tc-tetrofosmin: Method and validation

The objective of this study was to measure myocardial blood flow (mbf) in humans using 99mtc-tetrofosmin and dynamic single-photon emission computed tomography (spect). dynamic spect using 99mtc-tetrofosmin and dynamic positron emission tomography (pet) was performed on a group of 16 patients. the spect data were reconstructed using a 4d-spatiotemporal iterative reconstruction method. the data corresponding to 9 patients were used to determine the flow-extraction curve for 99mtc-tefrofosmin while data from the remaining 7 patients were used for method validation. the nonlinear tracer correction parameters a and b for 99mtc-tefrofosmin were estimated for the 9 patients by fitting the flow-extraction curve $$ k_{1} = fleft( {1 - a exp left( { - frac{b}{f}} right)} right) $$ for k 1 values estimated with 99mtc-tefrofosmin using spect and mbf values estimated with 13n-nh3 using pet. these parameters were then used to calculate mbf and coronary flow reserve (cfr) in three coronary territories (lad, rca, and lcx) using spect for an independent cohort of 7 patients. the results were then compared with that estimated with 13n-nh3 pet. the flow-dependent permeability surface-area product (ps) for 99mtc-tefrofosmin was also estimated. the estimated flow-extraction parameters for 99mtc-tefrofosmin were found to be a = 0.91 ± 0.11, b = 0.34 ± 0.20 (r 2 = 0.49). the range of mbf in lad, rca, and lcx was 0.44-3.81 ml/min/g. the mbf between pet and spect in the group of independent cohort of 7 patients showed statistically significant correlation, r = 0.71 (p < .001). however, the corresponding cfr correlation was moderate r = 0.39 yet statistically significant (p = .037). the ps for 99mtc-tefrofosmin was (0.019 ± 0.10)*mbf + (0.32 ± 0.16). dynamic cardiac spect using 99mtc-tetrofosmin and a clinical two-headed spect/ct scanner can be a useful tool for estimation of mbf.