Optimization of a table-top Compton camera system by Monte Carlo simulation

The Compton camera, which is a very promising imaging device in nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, is characterized by the capability of 3-D imaging of the radioisotope distribution from a fixed position, almost no limitation on the energy of gamma sources (100 keV–10 MeV), a multiple radioisotope tracing capability, and high imaging sensitivity. Our table-top Compton camera consists of a double-sided silicon strip detector (5×5×0.15 cm3, 16×16 strips) and a 25-segmented germanium detector (5×5×2 cm3, 5×5 segments). In this study, the table-top Compton camera was optimized with the GEANT4 detector simulation toolkit in order to maximize its performance for 18F. The scatterer-to-absorber distance and scatterer-to-absorber angle were investigated for their utility as optimization parameters. Our results show that the optimal performance of the Compton camera is achieved when the scatterer and absorber are positioned in parallel and 7–13 cm apart.