Study of position reconstruction of a LaBr3: Ce continuous scintillation crystal for medical applications

作者：Fabbri A^*; Sacco D; Bennati P; Baroncelli A; Galasso M; Cinti M N; Pellegrini R; Pani R; Cencelli V O

来源：Journal of Instrumentation, 2013, 8: P12010.

DOI：10.1088/1748-0221/8/12/P12010

• Image reconstruction in medical imaging
• Gamma camera, SPECT, PET PET/CT, coronary CT angiography (CTA)
• Medical-image reconstruction methods and algorithms, computer-aided software

Many modern molecular imaging techniques, based on radiopharmaceuticals, can take advantage of sophisticated devices but are still based on the scintillation detector mechanism proposed by Anger. These devices can perform with millimeter spatial resolution and high detection efficiency, but the final performance is strongly affected by the algorithm used for the scintillation position detection. In this work, a detailed comparison of the effect on the imaging performances of three new position detection algorithms, in terms of spatial resolution, detection linearity and useful Field of View is performed on a prototype gamma detector. The detector, built by the authors, is based on a continuous LaBr3: Ce scintillation crystal coupled to an Hamamatsu MA-PMT H8500 and a single anode readout electronics. The experimental data are obtained scanning the detector surface with a Tc99m collimated source (0.4mm f) at 1.5mm step. The overall imaging performances of the device are also tested by mean of a bar phantom. We conclude that the Anger-like algorithms give a 50% uFoV with a 1.30mm +/- 0.05mm spatial resolution while the proposed algorithms give a 80% uFoV and 1.10mm +/- 0.06mm spatial resolution.