New high spatial resolution portable camera in medical imaging

In the last years, many studies have been carried out on portable gamma cameras in order to optimize a device for medical imaging. In this paper, we present a new type of gamma camera, for low energies detection, based on a position sensitive photomultiplier tube Hamamatsu Flat Panel H8500 and an innovative technique based on CsI(Tl) scintillation crystals inserted into the square holes of a tungsten collimator. The geometrical features of this collimator–scintillator structure, which affect the camera spatial resolution and sensitivity, were chosen to offer optimal performances in clinical functional examinations. Detector sensitivity, energy resolution and spatial resolution were measured and the acquired image quality was evaluated with particular attention to the pixel identification capability. This low weight (about 2 kg) portable gamma camera was developed thanks to a miniaturized resistive chain electronic readout, combined with a dedicated compact 4 channel ADC board. This data acquisition board, designed by our research group, showed excellent performances, with respect to a commercial PCI 6110E card (National Intruments), in term of sampling period and additional on board operation for data pre-processing.