Brain SPECT Interpretation & Reporting

We provide online interpretation and reporting of Brain SPECT studies. The reporting will be done by nuclear medicine specialists from India and USA and reports will be delivered within 24-48 hours. 

Brain SPECT is a functional nuclear imaging technique performed to evaluate regional cerebral perfusion. It is done using lipophilic radiopharmaceuticals that cross the blood-brain barrier and localize in normal brain tissue. Brain SPECT is used to define the regional distribution of brain perfusion, evaluate a variety of brain abnormalities, and help confirming the clinical impression of brain death in various situations.

The radiopharmaceutical is injected intravenously and patient’s head is positioned in such a way that the entire brain is included in the middle of the field of view. The intercanthal line is kept at a 90°angle to the axis of rotation and parallel to the horizontal plane. The head should be slightly restrained to limit any head movement during image acquisition. Images are taken after a minimum interval of 40-45 minutes from the administration of radiotracer, with the help of gamma camera.

When examinations are performed to localize a seizure focus during a seizure, the radiopharmaceutical should ideally be injected within 30 seconds of the onset of seizure activity.

In patients with cerebrovascular disease, acetazolamide may be used to evaluate cerebrovascular reserve. The drug is given 15-20 minutes before radiopharmaceutical. This procedure is highly indicated to evaluate cerebrovascular reserve in a transient ischemic attack (TIA), in distinguishing causes of dementia, vascular anomalies (eg. arteriovenous malformation) or stroke.

Indications can be summarized as follows:

• Mapping of brain perfusion during interventions 
• Vascular spasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage 
• Cause of dementia 
• Cerebrovascular diseases 
• Detect epileptic foci preoperatively 
• Visualizing altered brain perfusion in HIV encephalopathy.
• Encephalitis 
• Prognosis after cerebrovascular accidents 
• Detecting brain death 
• Neuropsychiatric disorders
• Chronic fatigue syndrome

Female patients are asked to check for any pregnancy due to risks involved for foetus because of radiation or if there is any breastfeeding, then separate instructions are given for the temporary discontinuation for lactation.

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