Development and Evaluation of a Dynamic Cardiac Phantom for use in Nuclear Medicine

Authors: Marcos A. Dullius, Ramon C. Fernandes, Divanízia N. Souza

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to develop a dynamic cardiac phantom for quality control in myocardial scintigraphy. The dynamic heart phantom constructed only contained the left ventricle, made of elastic material (latex), comprising two cavities: one internal and one external. The data showed a non-significant variation in the values of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) obtained by varying the heart rate. It was also possible to evaluate the ejection fraction (LVEF) through different arrays of image acquisition and to perform an intercomparison of LVEF by two different scintillation cameras. The results of the quality control tests were satisfactory, showing that they can be used as parameters in future assessments. The new dynamic heart phantom was demonstrated to be effective for use in LVEF measurements. Therefore, the new heart simulator is useful for the quality control of scintigraphic cameras.

Keywords: sheart, nuclear medicine, phantom

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1076386

References:

[1] S. Khan, J. Wilde, "Design of a dynamic cardiac MR phantom for the evaluation of cardiac MR systems." International Congress Series. Vol. 1256, pp.1165-1170, 2003.
[2] B. A. Zanchet, "Desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta para an├ílise quantitativa de espessamento mioc├írdico através do processamento imagens médicas digitais." 2007. Monograph (Bachelor of Computer Science). Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas/RS.
[3] A. L. Baert, K. Sartor, "Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine." Ed. 2a., Springer, 2006.
[4] A. C. Camargo, "Otimização dos procedimentos de preparação marcação e controle de qualidade do glucarato-99mTc para diagnóstico do infarto agudo do miocárdio." 2007. Dissertation (Masters in Nuclear Technology - Applications). São Paulo/SP.
[5] IAEA-International Atomic Energy Agency. "Quality control of nuclear medicine instruments. Vienna", 1991. (IAEA-TECDOC-602).
[6] IAEA-International Atomic Energy Agency. "Quality assurance for SPECT systems". Vienna, 2009.
[7] K. Matusiak, M. W. Radwanska, A. Stepien, "Dynamic heart phantom for the quality control of SPECT equipment". Physica Medica. Vol. 24, pp. 112-116, 2008.
[8] CNEN-NE 3.05, Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear, "Requisitos de Radioproteção e Segurança para Serviços de Medicina Nuclear", Rio de Janeiro, 1996.
[9] D. Debrum, et. al., "Volume measurements in nuclear medicine gated SPECT and 4D echocardiography: validation using a dynamic cardiac phantom." International Journal of Cardiac Imaging, Vol. 21, pp. 239- 247, 2005.
[10] S. Kee, et al., "Development of a Dynamic Heart Phantom Prototype for Magnetic Resonance Imaging". Bioengineering Conference, IEEE 36th Annual Northeast. DOI: 10.1109/NEBC.2010.5458235, 2010.
[11] G. Germano, et al., "Automatic Quantification of Ejection Fraction from Gated Myocardial Perfusion SPECT." The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Vol. 36, pp. 2138-2147, 1995.
[12] H. Bergmann "Test phantoms in nuclear medicine: planar gamma câmera." Radiation Protection Dosimetry. Vol. 49, pp. 285-293, 1993.
[13] K. J. Murray, A. T. Elliott, J. Wadsworth, "A New Phantom for the Assessment of Nuclear Medicine Imaging Equipment." Physics in Medicine & Biology. Vol. 24, pp. 188-192, 1979.
[14] ICRU-International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements. "Phantoms and computational models in therapy, diagnosis and protection." ICRU REPORT 48, 1992