Investigation of the Intrinsic Spatial Resolution of an Intensified EMCCD Scintillation Camera

Meng, Ling-Jian; Fu, Geng

doi:10.1109/tns.2008.2004278

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Even with the application of SiPMs, the spatial resolution for 125 I is lower than with micro-columnar crystals (Heemskerk et al 2007, Meng andFu 2008). Due to the monolithic nature of the scintillator and its thickness, low-energy 125 I gammas and x-rays give rise to spotsizes of several mm 2 on the EMCCD.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…De Vree et al (2005), Miller et al (2006), Nagarkar et al (2006), Heemskerk et al (2007), Meng and Fu (2008), Westra et al (2009)). To improve the applicability for medical imaging, the application of continuous (or monolithic) crystals can improve the sensitivity for incoming 99m Tc gamma photons (140 keV) at some cost in spatial and energy resolution (Korevaar et al 2009a, Heemskerk 2010.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An enhanced high-resolution EMCCD-based gamma camera using SiPM side detection

et al. 2010

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Electron-multiplying charge-coupled devices (EMCCDs) coupled to scintillation crystals can be used for high-resolution imaging of gamma rays in scintillation counting mode. However, the detection of false events as a result of EMCCD noise deteriorates the spatial and energy resolution of these gamma cameras and creates a detrimental background in the reconstructed image. In order to improve the performance of an EMCCD-based gamma camera with a monolithic scintillation crystal, arrays of silicon photon-multipliers (SiPMs) can be mounted on the sides of the crystal to detect escaping scintillation photons, which are otherwise neglected. This will provide a priori knowledge about the correct number and energies of gamma interactions that are to be detected in each CCD frame. This information can be used as an additional detection criterion, e.g. for the rejection of otherwise falsely detected events. The method was tested using a gamma camera based on a back-illuminated EMCCD, coupled to a 3 mm thick continuous CsI:Tl crystal. Twelve SiPMs have been mounted on the sides of the CsI:Tl crystal. When the information of the SiPMs is used to select scintillation events in the EMCCD image, the background level for 99m Tc is reduced by a factor of 2. Furthermore, the SiPMs enable detection of 125 I scintillations. A hybrid SiPM-/EMCCD-based gamma camera thus offers great potential for applications such as in vivo imaging of gamma emitters.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An enhanced high-resolution EMCCD-based gamma camera using SiPM side detection

et al. 2010

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“…A customized photon-counting scheme was developed to pick up the interactions recorded on each frame. Their locations and energy information are both extracted using the photon-counting algorithm as detailed in [24]. The I-EMCCD detectors used in this system are wrapped around by lead sheets of 6mm thickness, leaving only a front window intended for collimated gamma rays to come in.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This detector offers an excellent performance for imaging low energy gamma rays which including (a) an excellent intrinsic resolution (30–60 µm at 30 keV and 70–160 µm at 140 keV) [24], (b) a large active area of ~80 mm diameter, (c) an excellent signal-to-noise ratio, (d) a reasonable detection efficiency for both I-125 and Tc-99m and (e) a reasonable readout frame rate of around 30 frame per second (fps). Compared to fiber-coupled EMCCD cameras [15]–[20], the I-EMCCD offers a similar intrinsic resolution, but with a much larger active area and an improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) [21].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ultrahigh resolution SPECT system for I-125 mouse brain imaging studies

Meng

Roy

et al. 2009

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A:

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This paper presents some initial experimental results obtained with a dual-head prototype single photon emission microscope system (SPEM) that is dedicated to mouse brain studies using I-125 labeled radiotracers. In particular, this system will be used for in vivo tacking of radiolabeled T cells in mouse brain. This system is based on the use of the intensified electron multiplying charge-coupled device (I-EMCCD) camera that offers the combination of an excellent intrinsic spatial resolution, a good signal-to-noise ratio, a large active area and a reasonable detection efficiency over an energy range between 27-140keV. In this study, the dual-head SPEM system was evaluated using both resolution phantoms and a mouse with locally injected T cells labelled with I-125. It was demonstrated that for a relatively concentrated source object, the current dual-head SPEM system is capable of visualizing the tiny amount of radioactivity (~12 nCi) carried by a very small number (<1000) of T cells. The current SPEM system design allows four or six camera heads to be installed in a stationary system configuration that offers a doubled or tripled sensitivity at a spatial resolution similar to that obtained with the dualhead system. This development would provide a powerful tool for in vivo and non-invasive tracking of radiolabeled T cells in mouse brain and potentially for other rodent brain imaging studies. Index TermsSingle photon emission microscope; T cell tracking

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“…The CCDs are suitable for operating at high frame rates (e.g. 50 Hz) (Nagarkar et al 1996, Miyata et al 2004, Teo et al 2006, Heemskerk et al 2007, Meng and Fu 2008, which enables one to obtain images in which scintillation light flashes have a very high likelihood to be spatially separated; thus, it is possible to detect the gamma photons individually (photon counting). The use of crystals consisting of columns with reflecting sides suppresses spatial resolution losses due to light spreading.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A pinhole gamma camera with optical depth-of-interaction elimination

2009

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The performance of pinhole single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) depends on the spatial resolution of the gamma-ray detectors used. Pinhole cameras suffer from strong resolution loss due to the varying depth-ofinteraction (DOI) of gamma quanta that enter the detector material at an angle. We eliminate DOI effects in a scintillation gamma camera via a dedicated optic fiber bundle that acts as a focusing collimator for light generated in a scintillation crystal. A curved crystal is connected to a concavely shaped fiberoptic bundle such that the fibers connect perpendicularly to the crystal's convex surface and point straight at the pinhole opening. Limiting the fiber numerical apertures can be used to suppress resolution losses due to light spread. Here we demonstrate experimentally that this prototype position-sensitive gamma sensor successfully eliminates DOI effects, and has an intrinsic resolution of better than 280 μm full width at half maximum with an interaction probability of 67% for 140 keV photons. Therefore, the detector has great potential for increasing the resolution of pinhole SPECT.

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Investigation of the Intrinsic Spatial Resolution of an Intensified EMCCD Scintillation Camera

Cited by 15 publications

References 37 publications

An enhanced high-resolution EMCCD-based gamma camera using SiPM side detection

An enhanced high-resolution EMCCD-based gamma camera using SiPM side detection

An ultrahigh resolution SPECT system for I-125 mouse brain imaging studies

A pinhole gamma camera with optical depth-of-interaction elimination

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