A
cardiac imaging system employing dual
gamma imaging heads co-registered with one another to provide two dynamic simultaneous views of the heart sector of a patient
torso. A first
gamma imaging head is positioned in a first orientation with respect to the heart sector and a second
gamma imaging head is positioned in a second orientation with respect to the heart sector. An adjustment arrangement is capable of adjusting the distance between the separate imaging heads and the angle between the heads. With the angle between the imaging heads set to 180 degrees and operating in a range of 140-159 keV and at a rate of up to 500kHz, the imaging heads are co-registered to produce simultaneous dynamic recording of two stereotactic views of the heart. The use of co-registered imaging heads maximizes the uniformity of detection sensitivity of
blood flow in and around the heart over the whole heart volume and minimizes
radiation absorption effects. A normalization /
image fusion technique is implemented pixel-by-corresponding pixel to increase
signal for any cardiac region viewed in two images obtained from the two opposed
detector heads for the same time bin. The imaging
system is capable of producing enhanced
first pass studies, bloodpool studies including planar, gated and non-gated EKG studies, planar EKG
perfusion studies, and planar hot spot imaging.