High Resolution, Low Cost Gamma Camera

描述（由申请人提供）：γ射线闪烁照相机是用于体内静态和动态放射性同位素分布成像的首选仪器，可提供医疗诊断和患者管理所急需的功能、形态和代谢活动信息。伽马照相机广泛用于心脏活动的研究和肾功能、骨和脑肿瘤、转移性疾病、肺栓塞、肝转移和甲状腺病理学研究。Anger相机是伽马相机的一种特殊设计，自1958年发明以来已经发展了多年。Anger相机使用铊掺杂的碘化钠闪烁体来吸收入射的γ射线（例如，来自99 mTc的140 keV光子），并且使用光电倍增管（PMT）阵列来检测闪烁光。这些摄像机设计的固有空间分辨率福尔斯落在3-4 mm FWHM的范围内。虽然使用Anger相机获得的空间分辨率由准直器设计主导，但这些相机的整体性能、尺寸、重量和成本受到所使用的光电倍增管的强烈影响。特别地，PMT的低量子效率、高成本、易碎性和笨重性是这种伽马相机中的限制因素。在拟议的努力，我们计划评估一个紧凑的伽马相机的心脏成像使用固态光电探测器，提供紧凑的尺寸，灵活的设计和高性能。该项目将建造一个原型相机，并对其性能进行广泛评估。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The y-ray scintillation camera is the instrument of choice for imaging static and dynamic radioisotope distributions in vivo and provides information about functionality, morphology, and metabolic activity that is critically needed for medical diagnosis and patient management. Gamma cameras are widely used in investigation of cardiac activity and in renal function, bone and brain tumor, metastatic disease, pulmonary emboli, liver metastasis, and thyroid pathology studies. The Anger camera, which is a particular design of gamma camera, has been developed over the years since its invention in 1958. Anger camera uses a thallium doped sodium iodide scintillator to absorb the incoming y-rays (e.g. 140 keV photons from 99mTc), and an array of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) to detect the scintillation light. The intrinsic spatial resolution of these camera designs falls in the range of 3-4 mm FWHM. While the spatial resolution obtained with the Anger cameras is dominated by the collimator design, the overall performance, size, weight, and cost of these cameras are strongly influenced by the photomultiplier tubes used. In particular, the low quantum efficiency, high cost, fragility, and bulkiness of PMTs are limiting factors in such gamma cameras. In the proposed effort, we plan to evaluate a compact gamma camera for cardiac imaging using solid-state photodetectors, which offer compact size, flexible design and high performance. A prototype camera will be built in this project and its performance will be extensively evaluated.