Study of the methodology of image matching in liver SPECT scintigraphy

Two methods of image matching (matching liver colloid SPECT image will liver blood pool SPECT image) were described: (1) minimal mismatching degree (MMD) and (2) two observers' matching (TOM). 20 subjects, including 5 controls and 15 patients with liver space occupying diseases (10 with hepatic hemangioma, 2 with hepatic cyst, 2 with hepatoma and 1 with hepatic metastasis) were studied using both liver colloid and blood pool SPECT imaging and all imaging data were analyzed with the above 2 methods. The results indicated that in patients with hepatic hemangioma or cyst, there was no significant difference between the two methods, but in cases of hepatic metastasis and hepatoma, MMD method led to better detection sensitivity