Proposal of segmental reading of radionuclide images of the liver

The method of segmental reading of radionuclide images of the liver, which include ordinary (planar) scintigrams as well as SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) images are presented. Patients showing defects on the liver scan, segments of which have been elucidated by other modalities, were chosen for this study, and the location of defects was assessed in connection with the segment in which they were located. On the basis of this study, the author presents his own segmentation of radionuclide images of the liver. This segmentation seems to be very useful in clinical practice and when applied to ordinary scintigrams, appears to be quite different from the previously published segmentation, which is thought to be partially incorrect. (author)