360° or 180° for bone SPECT of the spine?

Acquisitions of 360 degrees are usually performed for bone single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). However, the spine is a peripheral and median structure, it therefore seemed interesting to compare the 360 degrees and the posterior 180 degrees SPECT images. In a phantom study and in 25 adult patients, the 360 degrees SPECT images were compared with the posterior 180 degrees images obtained during the same acquisition: the posterior 180 degrees images are at least equivalent to the 360 degrees images. With a reduction in the examination time, SPECT could become easier to perform, especially in patients suffering from back pain.