Wael A. Jaber - Nuclear Cardiology Review: A Self-Assessment Tool

. A patient scheduled to undergo chemotherapy for breast carcinoma is referred for baseline equilibrium radionuclide angiocardiography (ERNA) for assessment of left ventricular (LV) function to monitor for cardiotoxicity. Which of the following statements is true?

. Which of the following statements regarding first-pass radionuclide angiography (FPRNA) is true?

. Approximately what fraction of 140 keV gamma rays (technetium-99m) pass through a typical low-energy high-resolution (LEHR) parallel-hole collimator?

. If a gamma camera with parallel-hole collimator is moved farther away from the patient, how are resolution and sensitivity affected?

. For thallium-201 imaging, the photons detected in the 70-keV window are produced by which mechanism?

. In a planar gated blood pool study, 121,344 net counts are measured in the left ventricle at end diastole, and 53,311 net counts are measured at end systole. What is the LVEF? (Assume that background count subtraction has already been performed.)

. Which of the following methods of attenuation correction (AC) is not acceptable for nuclear cardiology?

. The frequency of energy peaking for a gamma camera should be performed:

. The technetium-99m photopeak on a gamma scintillation camera is progressively increasing. The most likely cause for this photopeak shift is:

. To check if all the PMTs are working properly on a gamma camera, which of the following tests should be performed?

. The interaction of a technetium-99m gamma photon with the scintillation camera is primarily by:

. In order for the technetium-99m peak to be acquired within a 20% window, the window setting should be:

. The best method to check for patient motion on a cardiac single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) study is to:

. In a cardiac SPECT study, the acquired planar projections are first reconstructed into which body plane?

. In a multigated acquisition (MUGA) study, the cardiac cycle is divided in 20 equal time frames, and the patient heart rate is 60 beats per minute. Average time per frame is:

. Dual-head camera detectors are mounted next to each other in a 90-degree orientation to the gantry for a cardiac study; this is primarily done because:

. The amount of energy deposited by the radiation per unit length in an absorber is known as:

. Attenuation artifacts are prevalent in SPECT imaging modalities. Which of the following statements is true?

. Using AC and resolution compensation has been recently introduced in SPECT imaging. This newer technology:

. When comparing pharmacologic SPECT versus pharmacologic positron emission tomography (PET), all the following statements are true except:

. What percentage of 140-keV gamma rays (technetium-99m) is attenuated by 10 cm of water (attenuation coefficient of water at 140 keV = 0.15 cm1)?

. In the above situation (technetium-99m in water), the interaction of gamma rays with the medium is dominated by which process?

. Cardiac SPECT cameras currently utilize any of the following collimation methods, except:

. Some solid-state cameras use photodiodes coupled to pixelated scintillation crystals. What is a main advantage of this design, compared to conventional gamma cameras having a large-area scintillation crystal with photomultiplier tubes?