The impact of different bone tracers and acquisition times on image quality of equine bone scintigraphy

Mahmoud Mageed, Shahlaa Dyab, Jan-Hein Swagemakers, Kerstin Gerlach

Background: The impact of different acquisition times and technetium-99m–labeled diphosphonates on the image quality of bone scintigraphy is poorly documented in horses.

Study: This is a prospective experimental study that aimed to evaluate the impact of varying 99mTc-disphosphonates and acquisition times on semiquantitative and qualitative image parameters of bone scintigraphy in horses.

Method: Twenty-four horses undergoing bone scintigraphy were divided equally and randomly into methylene-, hydroxymethylene-, and dicarboxypropane diphosphonate groups. Lateral scintigraphic images of the antebrachium were obtained 3 h post 99mTC-diphosphonate injection using three acquisition times (60, 90, 120 s). The images were analyzed semiquantitatively using the bone-soft tissue ratio (B:ST), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and image contrast. Furthermore, a blinded qualitative analysis was performed using a visual grading analysis.

Results: The results showed that dicarboxypropane diphosphonate images had a significantly higher B:ST ratio than methylene diphosphonate images but not hydroxymethylene diphosphonate images in all acquisition times. However, dicarboxypropane diphosphonate and hydroxymethylene diphosphonate images acquired at 60 s had significantly higher CNR than those acquired at 90 and 120 s. The qualitative analysis revealed no significant differences between 99mTc-diphosphonates at acquisition times 60 and 90 s. However, methylene diphosphonate images acquired at 120 s had significantly lower image quality compared to dicarboxypropane diphosphonate and hydroxymethylene diphosphonate.

Conclusions: Different bone tracers affected the semiquantitative image parameters but not the qualitative analysis findings. Increasing acquisition time did not necessarily improve the image quality. Therefore, decreasing the acquisition time enabled a reduction in personnel radiation exposure.

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