High Resolution, Low Cost Gamma Camera

描述（由申请人提供）：y射线闪烁相机是对体内静态和动态放射性同位素分布进行成像的首选仪器，可提供有关功能、形态和代谢活动的信息，这些信息对于医学诊断和患者管理至关重要。伽马照相机广泛用于心脏活动、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研究。“愤怒”相机是伽玛相机的特殊设计，自1958年发明以来，经过多年的发展。Anger相机使用掺铊的碘化钠闪烁体来吸收入射的y射线（例如来自99mTc的140 keV光子），并使用一组光电倍增管（pmt）来探测闪烁光。这些相机设计的固有空间分辨率都在3-4毫米频宽范围内。虽然Anger相机获得的空间分辨率主要取决于准直器的设计，但这些相机的整体性能、尺寸、重量和成本都受到所使用的光电倍增管的强烈影响。特别是pmt的低量子效率、高成本、易碎性和体积是限制这种伽玛相机的因素。在提议的努力中，我们计划评估使用固态光电探测器的紧凑型心脏成像伽马相机，该相机具有紧凑的尺寸，灵活的设计和高性能。本项目将制作一台样机，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.