Fukuoka CampusA student from  Faculty of Fukuoka Medical Technology the Student Encouragement Award at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Kyushu Regional Chapter of the Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine Technology

At the 39th Kumamoto Conference of the Kyushu Branch of the Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine Technology, held at the Kumamoto International Community House (Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture) on Saturday, July 5th and Sunday, July 6th, 2025, Teikyo University students Takagi Mimura (4th year, Faculty of Fukuoka Medical Technology) and Naka Keiryu (4th year, Faculty of Fukuoka Medical Technology) received the Student Encouragement Award.

Takagi has been conducting his research under the guidance of Takagi Akihiro, Associate Professor Department of Radiological Technology at the same faculty, and presented his research at the conference titled "Study on estimating late HM ratio using dynamic collection data in ^123I-MIBG myocardial scintigraphy."
This research expands on the results of student research from the previous year, and aims to reduce the burden on patients by simplifying ^123I-MIBG myocardial scintigraphy. This test, which targets patients with dementia, usually requires two images to be taken after drug administration, but in this study, a method was developed and verified to predict the evaluation value equivalent to the second test using image data taken for 60 minutes immediately after administration. Analysis of the temporal changes in radioactivity in the target area revealed a high correlation between the predicted and actual values in cases with high initial evaluation values, indicating the possibility of reducing the number of images to one under certain conditions.
This research has developed the findings of previous student research in a way that provides clinical support, and has attracted attention as a method that can both improve testing efficiency and reduce the burden on patients, which led to this award.

Naka has been conducting his research under the guidance of Assistant Professor Yuya Sekikawa of the same department, and presented his research at the conference titled "Study on the effect of defect size on image features in myocardial perfusion SPECT."
This study aimed to identify image features that can stably detect ischemia in the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia, regardless of conditions such as the type of SPECT device or the size of the defect. Two types of SPECT devices, a conventional type and a semiconductor type, were used for imaging, and image features were extracted and analyzed from data of multiple defect sizes set in a simulated phantom. As a result, features that showed high detectability regardless of the type of device or imaging conditions were identified, and they were shown to be particularly effective in detecting minute ischemia and early-stage lesions. Furthermore, the features shown were found to be highly stable, making them important findings that will contribute to the objectivity and standardization of diagnosis.
This research was highly evaluated as a practical achievement that is expected to improve diagnostic accuracy in myocardial SPECT and to be developed into future applications of AI, leading to this award.

It is expected that the results of their research will make a significant contribution to the future development of the field of nuclear medicine.

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