Clinical
Guidelines
The European Association of Nuclear Medicine
Bajc M, et al. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2019; [Epub ahead of print]
EANM guidelines for ventilation/perfusion scintigraphy – Part 1
Bajc M, et al. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2009; 36: 1356-1370
EANM guidelines for ventilation/perfusion scintigraphy – Part 2
Bajc M, et al. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2009; 36: 1528-1538
The Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine
CANM Guidelines for ventilation/perfusion (V/P SPECT) in pulmonary embolism
Education
Technegas™ Functional Lung Imaging
Ventilation SPECT/CT using Technegas™ to quantify pulmonary function
Pulmonary study
V/Q SPECT using Technegas™ to detect pulmonary embolism
Testimonials
Beyond PE clinical uses - results from clinical studies
Airflow limitation assessment in chronic airway diseases
Images were kindly provided by the Hunter New England Imaging (HNEI) at John Hunter Hospital and clinical data by the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI)
Monitoring treatment response in asthmatic patients
Images and clinical data were kindly provided by the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research
Lung function evaluation before lung volume reduction surgery
Images were kindly provided by Macquarie Medical Imaging (MMI) and clinical data by Macquarie Respiratory & Sleep department at Macquarie University
Literature highlights
Edition 1 – May 2017
COPD, a new indication for using Technegas™ V/Q SPECT?
Edition 3 – October 2017
Economical value of hybrid SPECT/CT in pulmonary embolism diagnosis
Edition 2 – August 2017
V/Q SPECT/CT as first-line modality for pulmonary embolism diagnosis
Edition 4 – December 2018
Summary of the Lancet Commissions report on redefining airways diseases
Clinical References
"Technegas as a SPECT ventilation agent has a key advantage as it remains fixed after inhalation, which allows imaging of upright ventilation distribution, analogous of pulmonary function tests."
"V/Q SPECT, using Technegas as the ventilation imaging agent, could diagnose and grade severity of COPD and also estimate preserved lung function in 94 patients. Moreover, V/Q SPECT appears to be a unique tool to reveal the heterogeneity of COPD caused by pulmonary comorbidities such as pulmonary embolism, left heart failure, lung tumor and pneumonia."
"An advantage of using Technegas as the ventilation agent and radiolabelled macro-aggregated albumin microspheres as the perfusion agent is that the deposition pattern is fixed upon administration and thus different patient postures can be studied and the effect of gravity and position determined, even though the scans must be acquired with the subject supine using conventional gamma camera SPECT/CT systems"
"Technetium-99m (99mTc-Technegas) is widely available and relatively inexpensive while Xenon-133 is less than ideal for SPECT imaging owing to its relatively low energy and suboptimal spatial resolution."
"However, the standard technique for V/Q SPECT in the US involves the use of Xenon radiotracer rather than Technegas rendering direct comparison of equivocal rates less useful."
"The optimal tracer for ventilation studies is Technegas, an ultra fine dispersion of 99mTc-labeled carbon. [...] Its main advantage is greater percentage deposition in the alveolar spaces and less undesirable adherence to the central airways, compared with droplet radioaerosols."
"The best option for ventilation evaluation is aerosolized ultrafine 99mTc-labeled impregnated carbon particles (Technegas, Cyclopharm, Australia)."
"Ventilation SPECT imaging with Technegas was used as an estimation of regional ventilation [in asthma patients]."
"The introduction of the tomographic technique and the implementation of Technegas as a novel ventilation agent facilitated imaging of pulmonary embolism in comparison with planar imaging and particularly in COPD patients together with the new interpretation criteria."
"Although not as available as chest X-ray, V/P SPECT is a feasible alternative, especially because the introduction of SPECT and new ventilation tracers (i.e. Technegas) has lowered the number of non-diagnostic studies to <3%, even in the presence of obstructive lung disease."
