Aley Palau San Pedro

Mr. Aley Palau San Pedro

Física Médica, Fundación Centro Diagnóstico Nuclear, Buenos Aires, Argentina
orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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29 June 2023 in Diagnostics
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
MCMariana Andrea Prieto Canalejo
Mariana Andrea Prieto Canalejo
APAley Palau San Pedro
Aley Palau San Pedro
Ricardo Jose GeronazzoRicardo Jose Geronazzo
Ricardo Jose Geronazzo
DMDaniel Minsky
Daniel Minsky
Luis Eduardo Juarez-OrozcoLuis Eduardo Juarez-Orozco
Luis Eduardo Juarez-Orozco
Mauro NamíasMauro Namías
Mauro Namías
(1) Background: The CT-based attenuation correction of SPECT images is essential for obtaining accurate quantitative images in cardiovascular imaging. However, there are still many SPECT cameras without associated CT scanners throughout the world, especially in developing countries. Performing additional CT scans implies troublesome planning logistics and larger radiation doses for patients, making it a suboptimal solution. Deep learning (DL) offers a revolutionary way to generate complementary images for individual patients at a large scale. Hence, we aimed to generate linear attenuation coefficient maps from SPECT emission images reconstructed without attenuation correction using deep learning. (2) Methods: A total of 384 SPECT myocardial perfusion studies that used 99mTc-sestamibi were included. A DL model based on a 2D U-Net architecture was trained using information from 312 patients. The quality of the generated synthetic attenuation correction maps (ACMs) and reconstructed emission values were evaluated using three metrics and compared to standard-of-care data using Bland–Altman plots. Finally, a quantitative evaluation of myocardial uptake was performed, followed by a semi-quantitative evaluation of myocardial perfusion. (3) Results: In a test set of 66 test patients, the ACM quality metrics were MSSIM = 0.97 ± 0.001 and NMAE = 3.08 ± 1.26 (%), and the reconstructed emission quality metrics were MSSIM = 0.99 ± 0.003 and NMAE = 0.23 ± 0.13 (%). The 95% limits of agreement (LoAs) at the voxel level for reconstructed SPECT images were: [−9.04; 9.00]%, and for the segment level, they were [−11; 10]%. The 95% LoAs for the Summed Stress Score values between the images reconstructed were [−2.8, 3.0]. When global perfusion scores were assessed, only 2 out of 66 patients showed changes in perfusion categories. (4) Conclusion: Deep learning can generate accurate attenuation correction maps from non-attenuation-corrected cardiac SPECT images. These high-quality attenuation maps are suitable for attenuation correction in myocardial perfusion SPECT imaging and could obviate the need for additional imaging in standalone SPECT scanners.

10 October 2026 in Journal of Nuclear Cardiology
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
Mauro NamíasMauro Namías
Mauro Namías
APAley Palau San Pedro
Aley Palau San Pedro
LPLaura Tatiana Pelegrina
Laura Tatiana Pelegrina
LBLaura Calderón Brenner
Laura Calderón Brenner
RARoberto N. Agüero
Roberto N. Agüero
Ricardo Jose GeronazzoRicardo Jose Geronazzo
Ricardo Jose Geronazzo