Evaluation of SPECT Combined with low dose CT fusion lmaging for differential diagnosis of benign and malignant skull diseases

To evaluate the value of the fusion imaging obtained from SPECT combined with low dose CT for differential diagnosis of benign and malignant skull diseases, 81 patients with skull diseases (total in 118 focal spots without pathological proved) underwent bone scanning using 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate (MDP), 25 of them (40 focal spots) underwent SPECT, 43 of them (66 focal spots) underwent CT or MRI, and 12 of them (19 focal spots) underwent SPECT combined with low dose CT in addition. The diagnostic accuracy of benign and malignant diseases was evaluated by four modalities. The results showed that there are markedly statistical differences in the diagnostic accuracy of four modalities. In the diagnosis of benign and malignant diseases, the diagnostic accuracy of SPECT/CT fusion imaging was much better than those of other modalities. The fusion imaging of SPECT/CT may be clinically valuable in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant skull diseases. (authors)