Performance tests of two portable mini gamma cameras for medical applications

• Published in: Medical physics (Lancaster) Vol. 33; no. 11; pp. 4210 - 4220
• Main Authors: Sánchez, F., Fernández, M. M., Giménez, M., Benlloch, J. M., Rodríguez-Alvarez, M. J., García de Quirós, F., Lerche, Ch. W., Pavón, N., Palazón, J. A., Martínez, J., Sebastiá, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association of Physicists in Medicine 01-11-2006
• Subjects: Anatomy; Ancillary equipment; biomedical equipment; Breast Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Calibration; Cameras; Collimators; ENERGY RESOLUTION; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; GAMMA CAMERAS; Humans; Image Enhancement - instrumentation; Image Enhancement - methods; Image quality; image resolution; Image sensors; Lymph Nodes - diagnostic imaging; Lymphatic Metastasis; Medical imaging; Melanoma - diagnostic imaging; MELANOMAS; Miniaturization; Non‐ionizing radiation equipment and techniques; NUCLEAR MEDICINE; Nuclear medicine imaging; Phantoms, Imaging; Photocathodes; PHOTOMULTIPLIERS; Photomultipliers; phototubes and photocathodes; Polynomials; portable instruments; radioisotope imaging; RADIOISOTOPES; RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE; radionuclide imaging; Radionuclide Imaging - instrumentation; Radionuclide Imaging - methods; Reproducibility of Results; SCINTILLATION COUNTING; SCINTISCANNING; Sensitivity and Specificity; Sodium; SOLID SCINTILLATION DETECTORS; SPATIAL RESOLUTION; system buses; THYROID; scintillation counting; gamma cameras; nuclear medicine; radionuclide imaging
• ISSN: 0094-2405; 2473-4209
• DOI: 10.1118/1.2358199

We have developed two prototypes of portable gamma cameras for medical applications based on a previous prototype designed and tested by our group. These cameras use a
CsI
(
Na
)
continuous scintillation crystal coupled to the new flat-panel-type multianode position-sensitive photomultiplier tube, H8500 from Hamamatsu Photonics. One of the prototypes, mainly intended for intrasurgical use, has a field of view of
44
×
44
mm
2
, and weighs
1.2
kg
. Its intrinsic resolution is better than
1.5
mm
and its energy resolution is about 13% at
140
keV
. The second prototype, mainly intended for osteological, renal, mammary, and endocrine (thyroid, parathyroid, and suprarenal) scintigraphies, weighs a total of
2
kg
. Its average spatial resolution is
2
mm
; it has a field of view of
95
×
95
mm
2
, with an energy resolution of about 15% at
140
keV
. The main advantages of these gamma camera prototypes with respect to those previously reported in the literature are high portability and low weight, with no significant loss of sensitivity and spatial resolution. All the electronic components are packed inside the mini gamma cameras, and no external electronic devices are required. The cameras are only connected through the universal serial bus port to a portable PC. In this paper, we present the design of the cameras and describe the procedures that have led us to choose their configuration together with the most important performance features of the cameras. For one of the prototypes, clinical tests on melanoma patients are presented and images are compared with those obtained with a conventional camera.