Medium field of view multiflat panel-based portable gamma camera

A portable gamma camera based on the multianode technology has been built and tested. The camera consists in optically coupling four “Flat Panel” H8500 PSPMTs to a 100×100×4 mm3 CsI(Na) continuous scintillation crystal. The dimensions of the camera are 17×12×12 cm3 including the pinhole collimator and it weighs a total of 2 kg. Its average spatial resolution is 2 mm, its energy resolution is about 15%, and it shows a field of view of 95 mm. Because of its portability, its FOV and its cost, it is a convenient choice for osteological, renal, mammary, and endocrine (thyroid, parathyroid and suprarenal) scintigraphies, as well as other important applications such as intraoperatory detection of lymph nodes and surgical oncology. We describe the simulations performed which explain the crystal choice, the mechanical design of the camera and the method of calibration and algorithms used for position, energy and uniformity correction. We present images taken from phantoms. We plan to increase the camera sensitivity by using a four-holes collimator in combination with the MLEM algorithm, in order to decrease the exploration time and to reduce the dose given to the patient.