Evaluative studies in nuclear medicine research. Progress report, October 1, 1979-June 30, 1980

Effort since the last progress report (September 1979) has been directed toward assessing the potential short and long term benefits of continued development and application and medical research of emission computed tomograhy (ECT). This report contains a review of existing ECT technology, including functional descriptions of current and proposed image systems, for both sngle-photon ECT (SPECT) and positron ECT (PECT) approaches. Medical research and clinical topics to which ECT has been, or may be, applied are presented. One such area of investigation involves the effects of stroke. The application of ECT to laboratory research, and to clinical diagnosis and prognosis, of stroke may result in improved management of the disease. An illustration of the potential savings in the cost of management of stroke due to the effects of applied ECT research is included. The results represent a compilation of data collected from conversations with, and conference presentations by, ECT users, researchers and image system designers, and from a review of the literature