04-08-2010, 10:21 PM
Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT, or less commonly, SPET) is a nuclear medicine tomographic imaging technique using gamma rays. It is very similar to conventional nuclear medicine planar imaging using a gamma camera. However, it is able to provide true 3D information and The basic technique requires injection of a gamma-emitting radioisotope (also called radionuclide) into the bloodstream of the patient. Occasionally the radioisotope is a simple soluble dissolved ion, such as a radioisotope of gallium(III), which happens to also have chemical properties which allow it to be concentrated in ways of medical interest for disease detection. However, most of the time in SPECT, a marker radioisotope, which is of interest only for its radioactive properties, has been attached to a special radioligand, which is of interest for its chemical binding properties to certain types of tissues
