Quote:
Originally Posted by Cherie
Rex,
You are WRONG to call me wrong. I have had a SPECT scan and I have seen several. I had the scan because I had already had an MRI and MRA of the optic pathways, and had a bilateral hononymous hemianopia and had the doc's stymied as to the cause. You can see blood actually moving as the scan is being done and you can see areas of narrowing or buldging of vessels.
Now, I don't know you or your credentials but I do know mine. And you sound dangerous with your misinformation and googling(?) of information. You see, I don't need to google info of this nature because I've either experienced it or been taught it.
Nuff said!
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Cherie,
I'm a 20-year radiology professional. I don't care what you say...you are dead wrong about using SPECT to
visualize an aneurysm.
Enough said...I certainly am not here to battle with you. I can assure you, though, that I am neither dangerous or a Googler. If you want to believe otherwise, or that SPECT is diagnostic for aneurysm, be my guest. Nuclear medicine exams are (in these cases) done to visualize perfusion - as I have said - but it is not an anatomically diagnostic procedure. It gives metabolic information which is useful for correlating with other modalities like MRA, plain-film/digital angiography and CTA. It would be very unusual to order a SPECT exam to r/o aneurysm, as they are far better-visualized by angio procedures. To draw a close parallel - I had my stress test (nuclear exam) to assess the patency of the coronary arteries. The camera detects the radioactive tracer as it seeks out the heart muscle (certain isotopes seek out certain tissues). Had the images revealed that the tracer was not reaching the heart muscle in sufficient quantity, the conclusion would have been that the coronary arteries were to some degree blocked. At that point, a cardiac catheterization might be done - angiography - to visualize the coronary arteries in real-time as the iodinated contrast material is injected.
Brain angiography is done in a similar manner. If the physicians decide that a less invasive procedure would be diagnostic to visualize the vessels, then an MRA is substituted for the plain-film/digital angiography...that way, no catheterization is necessary.
These are the universal protocols for visualizing vascular structures. Nuclear scans raise the possibilities, angiography (CTA, MRA or plain-film/digital angiography) visualizes the lesion.
Whatever...no use arguing or beating a dead horse.
.