Brain Scanning with the Anger Multiplane Tomographic Scanner as a Primary Examination

Abstract

A commercial prototype of the Anger multiplane tomographic scanner was compared with a scintillation camera, in terms of observer performance, as a primary instrument for brain scintigraphy. Observer performance (diagnostic accuracy), expressed as ROC [receiver operating characteristic] curves, was slightly better when reading the tomographic scans than when reading the camera images. In brain scintigraphy of a general population, the scanner has a small advantage over the scintillation camera. This advantage is directly proportional to the fraction of patients in which there is difficulty differentiating intracranial [neoplastic] lesions from superficial foci of activity on the camera image.