Comparison of pinhole and high-resolution parallel-hole imaging for nodular thyroid disease

Affiliations

01 September 2011

-

doi: 10.1097/RLU.0b013e318219ac29


Abstract

Introduction and objective: Pinhole has been the main standard collimator to be used for thyroid imaging. There has been a gradually increasing trend to replace pinhole with the use of high-resolution low-energy parallel-hole collimator with zoom in thyroid imaging. The objective of this study is to compare parallel-hole collimator acquisition of thyroid gland with that obtained by pinhole collimator to find the effect on the diagnostic information in nodular thyroid disease.

Material and methods: A total of 29 patients, 24 women and 5 men, aged 18 to 70 years who were routinely referred for thyroid imaging for the assessment of nodular disease were studied. Each patient was injected with 185 MBq (5 mCi) of Tc-99m sodium pertechnetate intravenously. After 20 minutes, acquisition using pinhole followed by parallel-hole collimators was obtained. For pinhole acquisition, a 3-mm insert was used, and 3 images were obtained in the anterior and anterior oblique projections. For parallel-hole acquisition, anterior view was obtained for 250 K. The collimator was placed as close as possible to the patient. The image quality, number, and definition of nodules were evaluated by 2 independent, qualified nuclear medicine physicians. Differences were resolved by consensus.

Results: There were 14 patients who had nodular patterns and 15 had no apparent nodules. There were 40 nodules of different sizes detected by pinhole imaging. Only 10 (25%) of these nodules were observed on parallel-hole images.

Conclusion: Pinhole imaging must be used for thyroid imaging particularly in patients suspected of having nodular disease.


Similar articles

Improved delineation of parathyroid lesions in patients with chronic renal failure using magnified pinhole imaging.

Ali L, Loutfi I, Biswas G, Hadi N, Girgis T.J Nucl Med Technol. 2011 Mar;39(1):35-9. doi: 10.2967/jnmt.110.076984. Epub 2011 Feb 14.PMID: 21321253

Simultaneous fluoroscopic and nuclear imaging: impact of collimator choice on nuclear image quality.

van der Velden S, Beijst C, Viergever MA, de Jong HW.Med Phys. 2017 Jan;44(1):249-261. doi: 10.1002/mp.12010. Epub 2017 Jan 3.PMID: 28044322

Parathyroid imaging: the importance of pinhole collimation with both single- and dual-tracer acquisition.

Klingensmith WC 3rd, Koo PJ, Summerlin A, Fehrenbach BW, Karki R, Shulman BC, Raeburn CD, McIntyre RC Jr.J Nucl Med Technol. 2013 Jun;41(2):99-104. doi: 10.2967/jnmt.112.118208. Epub 2013 Mar 28.PMID: 23539762

[Evaluation of parathyroid imaging methods with 99mTc-MIBI--the comparison of planar images obtained using a pinhole collimator and a parallel-hole collimator].

Fujii H, Iwasaki R, Ogawa K, Hashimoto J, Nakamura K, Kunieda E, Sanmiya T, Kubo A, Inagaki K.Kaku Igaku. 1999 Jul;36(5):425-33.PMID: 10466305 Clinical Trial. Japanese.

Application of the pin-hole collimator in small animal nuclear scintigraphy: a review.

Young K, Daniel GB, Bahr A.Vet Radiol Ultrasound. 1997 Mar-Apr;38(2):83-93. doi: 10.1111/j.1740-8261.1997.tb00821.x.PMID: 9238775 Review.


Cited by

Value of Oblique View in Nodular Thyroid Disease; Revisiting Fundamentals.

Elgazzar AH, Alenezi S, Alshammari JM, Ghanem M, Asa'ad S.World J Nucl Med. 2015 May-Aug;14(2):125-7. doi: 10.4103/1450-1147.153911.PMID: 26097423 Free PMC article.


KMEL References