Development of a compact scintillator-based high-resolution Compton camera for molecular imaging

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Vol. 845; pp. 656 - 659
• Main Authors: Kishimoto, A., Kataoka, J., Koide, A., Sueoka, K., Iwamoto, Y., Taya, T., Ohsuka, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 11-02-2017
• Subjects: Compton camera; Depth of interaction; Depth of interaction; Compton camera
• ISSN: 0168-9002; 1872-9576
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2016.06.056

The Compton camera, which shows gamma-ray distribution utilizing the kinematics of Compton scattering, is a promising detector capable of imaging across a wide range of energy. In this study, we aim to construct a small-animal molecular imaging system in a wide energy range by using the Compton camera. We developed a compact medical Compton camera based on a Ce-doped Gd3Al2Ga3O12 (Ce:GAGG) scintillator and multi-pixel photon counter (MPPC). A basic performance confirmed that for 662keV, the typical energy resolution was 7.4% (FWHM) and the angular resolution was 4.5° (FWHM). We then used the medical Compton camera to conduct imaging experiments based on a 3-D imaging reconstruction algorithm using the multi-angle data acquisition method. The result confirmed that for a 137Cs point source at a distance of 4cm, the image had a spatial resolution of 3.1mm (FWHM). Furthermore, we succeeded in producing 3-D multi-color image of different simultaneous energy sources (22Na [511keV], 137Cs [662keV], and 54Mn [834keV]).