WO1994024583A1 - Detection de rayonnements et tomographie - Google Patents

Detection de rayonnements et tomographie Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1994024583A1
WO1994024583A1 PCT/US1994/003913 US9403913W WO9424583A1 WO 1994024583 A1 WO1994024583 A1 WO 1994024583A1 US 9403913 W US9403913 W US 9403913W WO 9424583 A1 WO9424583 A1 WO 9424583A1
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radiation
detector
energy
scattered
electrons
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PCT/US1994/003913
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English (en)
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Min Chen
Valery Egorov
Alexander I. Bolozdynya
A. Bertrand Brill
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Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
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Publication of WO1994024583A1 publication Critical patent/WO1994024583A1/fr

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J47/00—Tubes for determining the presence, intensity, density or energy of radiation or particles
    • H01J47/02—Ionisation chambers
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B6/00—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment
    • A61B6/02—Arrangements for diagnosis sequentially in different planes; Stereoscopic radiation diagnosis
    • A61B6/03—Computed tomography [CT]
    • A61B6/037—Emission tomography

Definitions

  • X-ray tomography blurs out undesirable images of superimposed structure to accentuate images of principal interest.
  • linear tomography the radiation source and the detector film are moved in opposite directions. The patient is placed on a metal structure that rotates about a pivot point or fulcrum. This fulcrum plane remains in focus while all other planes are blurred.
  • Linear tomography does not permit differentiation of soft tissue or provide quantitative information of attenuation properties of tissues.
  • Computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanners overcome the limitations of linear tomography by rotating the source with respect to the patient and a plurality of fixed detectors arranged around the patient.
  • the CAT beam is rotated around the body, it can image organs that overlap and are therefore obscured under conventional x-rays or radiograms.
  • the CAT is an order of magnitude more sensitive to slight gradations in density than radiographs, which frequently do not allow the practitioner to distinguish between tissues of approximately the same density.
  • PET Positron Emission Tomography
  • a neutron-poor isotope, such as n C will undergo beta decay, in which a proton becomes a neutron and a positron and a neutrino are ejected from the nucleus.
  • the positron encounters an electron, upon which the two annihilate each other and give rise to a pair of gamma-ray photons that depart at an angle of about 180°, each carrying an energy of 0.511 MeV.
  • the gamma photon derived from the decay of the isotopes within the patient's body is sensed by a circumferential array of collimated detectors, the circumference of which is designed so that opposite members of the ring are coupled. A signal is recorded only when both members of the detector pair sense coincidental photons.
  • a slight time difference in the activation of the detectors one can locate the source of the photons on the basis of time-of-flight differences from an eccentrically positioned emitter.
  • Data are fed into a computer which generates the image based on location and source intensity. Tissue attenuation is taken into account. Spatial resolution is about 0.5 cm. Only minute amounts of tracers are needed. The radiation dose is small.
  • PET is particularly adapted to kinetic analysis of physiologic and body chemical events, including blood volume, blood flow, consumption of oxygen and substrates and the distribution and occupancy of surface and intracellular receptors.
  • PET imaging provides a means for measuring the presence and amount of such important biological substances as oxygen contained in tissue induced by in vivo activation during irradiation with protons or by photoneutron production (0 ,6 ( ⁇ ,n)0 15 ) during radiotherapy of tumors.
  • the importance of increasing the dose to hypoxic regions in tumors is well known in radiobiology and this would provide the first practical means for a non invasive on line characterization of tissue oxygen levels.
  • SPECT Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography
  • SPECT The basic principles of SPECT are very similar to x- ray CT.
  • a transverse section is divided into a matrix of small volume elements or voxels.
  • the radioactivity of each voxel is computed from projection data obtained from a 180° or full 360° scan around the patient.
  • the projection data are obtained by translating and rotating arrays of multiple detectors (multidetector approach) or by rotating one or more scintillation cameras around the patient (camera-based approach) .
  • U.S. Patent 4,833,327 describes a radioisotopic imaging system in which thin and thick electronic collimation detectors are arrayed about a radiation source which emits gamma rays.
  • the thick detectors fix the location of impingement of a stopped gamma ray.
  • the deflection angle ⁇ occurring at the thin detector is determined from the Compton scattering equation.
  • Most of these imaging techniques require the measurement of the angle of the emitted or transmitted particles, i.e. X-rays or photons so that one can not only detect the energy but the direction from which the energy came. This angle must be determined so that projection functions can be used to map the object. It is this direction dimension that generally requires movement of the detector or the source with respect to the object to be imaged.
  • the device should be able to image the distribution of two or more tracers (x-, or gamma and positron-emitters) simultaneously, thereby permitting: i. the spatio-temporal correlation of physiological and anatomical processes delineated by the different tracers. ii. the spatio-temporal correlation of two or more physiological processes using different labeled compounds administered simultaneously. iii.
  • a radiation detector in which radiation, such as x-rays, gamma or other nuclear radiation, is detected.
  • the incident radiation is scattered by collision with noble gas molecules and converted into scintillation and electrons at a first interaction point.
  • the first interaction produces another radiation particle, such as a gamma ray, which, in turn, produces a second interaction with a molecule.
  • This second interaction produces a second scintillation and electrons.
  • the electrons of each interaction drift in a weak electric field region until they reach a high electric field gain region.
  • the electrons are then multiplied by acceleration in the high electric field gain region, so as to collide with the noble gas molecules to produce UV photons, which, in turn, impinge on a windowless photocathode to produce photo-electrons.
  • the current at the photocathodes is integrated to determine the energy of the incident radiation.
  • the distribution of the cathode current determines the transverse position of each of the two interaction points (vertices) .
  • the scintillation is detected by PMT's adjacent to the weak field region.
  • the time difference between receipt at the PMT's of this scintillation light and the receipt of the drift electrons determines the longitudinal distance of each interacting point.
  • the measurement of the energies, and the transverse and longitudinal position of the two interaction points is used to calculate the direction of the incident radiation.
  • the present invention in another aspect comprises a nuclear or X-ray detector formed of a chamber in which converter molecules in a medium are contained.
  • the medium may be comprised of a liquid and/or a compressed gas or a solid of high atomic number (Z) molecules, such as, xenon or krypton.
  • Z high atomic number
  • X-rays, gamma rays or other nuclear particles pass through a thin metal window and at some point interact with the converter molecules to produce scintillation, a scattered photon and recoil electrons upon collision with the converter molecules.
  • the scattered photon in turn collides with another molecule at point Y 2 Y 2 Z 2 , is annihilated, and produces secondary electrons.
  • the electrons initially drift in a weak-electric field region until they reach an amplification region.
  • an accelerating electric field is provided, which causes ionization of the converter molecules when struck by an electron.
  • the ionized molecules emit UV photons
  • UV photons in turn produce photoelectrons when they strike a windowless photocathode, preferably formed of cesium iodine (Csl) located at the end of the amplification region field. Scintillations are detected by a first array of photodetectors (PMTs) which are used for event triggering and supplemental energy and position analyses.
  • PMTs photodetectors
  • the total charge of the ionizations and the position of the charge center in a plane normal to the direction of drift is determined by the array Csl photodetectors and is the primary position and energy determination means. Localization of the vertices X, Y and Z in the direction of drift (Z direction) is achieved by determining the drift time. Ultimately the method determines the X,Y (by centroid analyses at the Csl photodetectors) and Z (by drift time analysis) points.
  • the quantum efficiency of the detector of the invention is much higher than in the crystal/photomultiplier tube-type detectors.
  • the Compton double scattering of photons by gamma rays, followed by photoelectron absorption, is detected to reconstruct the energy and direction of incoming rays/particles.
  • Fig. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a detector in accordance with the invention.
  • Fig. 2 is an enlarged partial section of Fig. 1 showing the details of the gain region of Fig. 1.
  • Fig. 3 is a schematic illustrating the geometry of Compton scattering.
  • Fig. 4 is a plot of the number of events versus a reconstructed incident photon angle computer simulated for 511 KeV in 40 atm of Xe illustrating the precision in reconstructing the direction of incoming gamma rays using double scattered events in compressed gas.
  • Fig. 5 is a schematic view of a detector of the invention as used to locate tumors in a patient.
  • Fig. 6 is a schematic illustration of a detector of the invention used to determine the presence of explosives in a package.
  • Fig. 7 is a schematic side view of a photocathode of the invention.
  • Fig. 8 is a schematic sectional view of SPECT embodiment of the invention.
  • Fig. 9 is a schematic sectional view of a PET embodiment of the invention.
  • Fig. 9A is an enlarged view of a first portion of Fig. 9.
  • Fig. 9B is an enlarged view of a second portion of Fig. 9.
  • Fig. 10 is a reconstructed image of a point-like source inside a 15 cm. diameter head as detected by an LXe-PET.
  • Fig. 11 is a schematic sectional view of a PET imaging system used to measure oxygen content in tumors.
  • the preferred converter molecules comprise krypton or xenon in a liquid, solid or gaseous state.
  • Incoming radiation such as X-rays from a source 16 is optionally collimated in collimator 18 (shown in dotted lines) which may comprise an array of pin holes in a lead plate.
  • the collimated, or uncollimated rays pass through a pair of windows 20 formed at an entrance end of a detector chamber 50 formed of an outer vacuum vessel 12 and an inner cooling jacket 14.
  • Gas inputs 43 are provided at one end of the chamber for the introduction of coolant to the vacuum vessel and converter gas to the inner chamber 22.
  • the converter gas is a noble, high Z gas, in this example, krypton or xenon having good scintillation properties.
  • krypton or xenon having good scintillation properties.
  • liquid xenon or krypton is formed in chamber 22 to fully absorb the radiation particles.
  • the liquid is formed by cooling the gas input in the volume labelled D.
  • the volume D is a low electric field region formed by providing an electric field El between wire mesh electrode 52 and the entrance end of the chamber at windows 20.
  • a voltage gradient is established within the chamber by providing an appropriate potential difference across electrodes 91 which extend concentrically adjacent to the inner wall 95 of the chamber.
  • the vessel 12 is positioned vertically, as shown, and the liquid level of drift region D is adjusted in accordance with the desired ray absorption which is a function of the energy level of the incoming ray.
  • the liquid region is separated from the gas gain region 11 by gravity.
  • a UV reflective coating of alumina is formed on wall 95 to form a UV mirror so as to increase the amount of light collected.
  • the electrons are then amplified in a high E- field (of about 2000 volts per 3 mm, for example) in gain region G (See Fig. 2) formed between accelerating anode 28 and mesh electrode 52. Accelerating anode 28 causes the electrons to produce UV photons upon impact with the noble gas molecules in region G.
  • each ray may produce 6500 primary electrons in drift region D with an E-field of 2KV/cm.
  • region G assuming a potential difference of 9 KV/3.5 atm, the light gain over a 5 mm gain region G is 180 photons/electrons. The total light output is therefore 10 6 UV photons, as compared with 2800 photons for a Nal crystal based system.
  • the ⁇ E/E FWHM Full Width Half Maximum is 2.1% at 140 KeV or a standard deviation ⁇ of 1% compared with 12% (FWHM) for Nal cameras.
  • the energy and position of the sensed event is then displayed on an image device 34.
  • the detection efficiency can be further improved by eliminating the collimators.
  • the system is operated in the double Compton scattering mode as described below.
  • Compton scattering is the production of a gamma ray and a recoil electron from the collision of a gamma ray with an electron. Compton scattering dominates over the photon energy region between a few hundred to a few thousand KeV.
  • a gamma ray scattered by collision with a molecule outside the detector may be incorrectly detected as a non-scattered photon at reduced energy levels. This is the region where conventional methods of measuring gamma rays do poorly because of the missing energy of the scattered photon. This is also the region where the double scattering method, in which a Compton scattered photon is absorbed by photo-electric effect, works the best.
  • the precise measurements of the positions and energies of the recoil electrons give a precise prediction of the positions and directions of the incoming photon. As shown in Fig. 3, the incoming gamma ray E ⁇ makes a
  • each scattering (X,, Y, and X 2 , Y 2 ) are determined by the centroid of the Csl cathode currents at t, and t 2 respectively.
  • the scattering also produces a fast scintillation light signal at t 0 , which can be detected by Csl cathode 26 long before the arrival at t. and t 2 of the drift electrons at the photocathode 26.
  • the depth position of each scattering ( Z 1 and Z 2 ) is determined by timing the difference between the arrival time of the drifting electrons and the occurrence of the initial scintillation signal.
  • Z, (t, - t 0 ) v
  • z 2 (t 2 - t 0 ) v, wherein v is the drift velocity (about one microsecond per mm) from which one can determine the angle 0 2 " as follows:
  • the energy of the incoming gamma-ray is the sum of the two recoiled electron energies:
  • a clean sample of double scattering events is accomplished by selecting events with E close to the expected photon energy, e.g. 511 KeV for the oxygen isotope - 5 0 g .
  • the scattered gamma angle 0 is as follows:
  • E E e2 E e2 + E ⁇ E rf in the event of more than two scattering events, and wherein m e is the mass of the electron.
  • the incoming gamma direction is defined by a cone with an opening angle ⁇ x from which the origin of the gamma rays can be located using the intercept of cones from different double Compton scattering events. Note that the opening angle ⁇ - decreases with increasing energy of the incoming gamma ray, and hence spatial resolution also increases with energy.
  • E is the electron energy in KeV.
  • Fig. 5 illustrates a PET application of the invention for detection of tumors in patients.
  • a photocathode region PC formed of a partitioned tubular array of Csl photocathodes and accelerating anodes for use in positron tomography 260 is provided around a gain region G formed, as in Fig. 1 of a tubular mesh electrode and tubular anodes and drift region D.
  • Compressed xenon or krypton gas is provided in the tubular regions between cathode 260 and inner wall 140.
  • a patient 300 having ingested a radioisotope, such as oxygen 15 0 g , is placed inside the tubular compartment 400.
  • the isotope is preferentially absorbed by a tumor at point X and produces a positron emission which, in turn, results in the emission of two back-to-back 511 KeV gamma rays.
  • the two gamma rays, A and B, are emitted from positron annihilation at the tumor (point X) .
  • Ray A is unscattered and correctly detected at photocathode 262.
  • Ray B is scattered at point Y by collision with molecules of the patient 300 and is detected by photocathode 264.
  • the detector of the present invention has high energy resolution and can distinguish between the scattered and unscattered rays on the basis of energy levels.
  • the scattered ray B gives up energy upon collision and will therefore have less energy than the unscattered ray A.
  • the correct line or direction of Ray B (i.e. C-Y) can be reconstructed using the logic described below:
  • ray A detected by photocathodes 262 is correctly identified as unscattered, since it has an energy level of at least 505 KeV.
  • the signals on the photocathodes 262 are used to reconstruct a cone of rays ACH.
  • the scattered ray collected at photocathodes 264 is correctly identified as scattered, since it has an energy level less than 505 KeV.
  • the signals on the photocathodes 264 are used to reconstruct a cone of rays BFG.
  • E ⁇ 511 KeV and E B is the measured energy of ⁇ -ray B.
  • the Csl photocathode is preferably formed by an insulative substrate 600, formed of a ceramic or glass material, as shown in Fig. 7, upon which aluminum, gold, or silicon pads 604 are formed.
  • the pads 604 may be as small as 4 mm by 4 mm, or less.
  • Each pad 604 is coupled by a lead 610 extending through the substrate 600 to a processor 32.
  • a 0.5 micron layer 608 of Csl is then formed over the pad structure by sputtering solid Csl material.
  • Fig. 6 schematically illustrates such a system.
  • a package 104 may be inspected for explosives by positioning it adjacent a source of x-rays 102.
  • Incident x-rays which encounter explosives 112 produce gamma rays 106 at a characteristic energy level which are detected by a gamma detector 108 of the invention formed, as previously described, of a windowless photocathode immersed in a gaseous medium of a noble gas adjacent a gain region.
  • the particles 106 are converted to electrons which are amplified by conversion to UV photons in the gain region.
  • the photons produce photoelectrons in the photocathode.
  • the total energy of the photoelectrons produced is an accurate measure of the energy of the incoming particle 106 and can be used to determine the explosive content of the package 104.
  • the detector 108 of the invention has large acceptance, excellent energy and direction resolutions, which facilitate the detection of the characteristic nuclear 7-rays emitted by specific materials under the excitation of incident neutrons, electrons or ⁇ -rays.
  • the detector can be used in the absorption mode, as shown in Fig. 6, by placing it opposite to the source 102 of incoming gamma rays. Alternatively, it can be used in a back scattered mode to detect back scattered ⁇ -rays by placing it on the same side as the source 102 of incoming gamma-rays.
  • One can also use the detector 108 to detect the Bragg scattered gamma-rays to find the characteristic spacing, d, of the structure of the material of interest.
  • the detector has excellent energy resolution (1%) and position resolution (1 mm) and can be made as large as needed to cover large angular regions, all of which are needed for drug or explosives detection. Large detectors are needed to cover large acceptance.
  • the detectors of the invention are limited in size only by the cost of the converter medium and the number of the electronics channels. The cost of electronics is decreasing rapidly with time. To reduce the cost of large detectors, it is possible to replace xenon with krypton as the converter. Krypton is about ten times cheaper and only a factor of 1.6 longer in absorption length than xenon.
  • Detection of double Compton scattering of photons followed by photoelectron absorption may also be used in SPECT applications as shown in Fig. 8.
  • the SDC 513 comprises a cryostat housing 514 of the type described in connection with Fig. 1 having gas inputs 505 entrance windows formed of Al-coated carbon-fiber 511, an outer vacuum jacket or tank 510, a cooling element 509 and electrical feedthroughs 507.
  • An inner liquid Xe chamber 515 is supported within housing 514 by an inner cylindrical wall 504.
  • Chamber 515 contains an array of photo-multiplier tubes (PMT's) 501 immersed in the liquid Xe and encircling the liquid phase portion of the chamber below interphase surface 502.
  • High voltage electrodes 503 are also distributed coaxially about a central axis "A" extending longitudinally through the chamber.
  • a planar array of Csl cathode detectors 506 is provided at one end of the chamber opposite windows 511 to detect UV light.
  • An array of scintillation detectors 512, such as PMT's, is disposed on a side of the patient P opposite the windows 511 in housing 514.
  • gamma rays one ray of which is shown at G
  • LXe liquid Xe
  • the primary electrons produce fast scintillation light (not shown) which is detected at time (t 0 ) by the PMT's.
  • the PMT's are shielded from the electroluminescence light produced by the secondary electrons which is refracted at an angle less than 45° to the LXe surface by the large index of refraction of LXe (1.6).
  • the secondary electrons drift in a low E-field provided by mesh electrodes A1-A2 until they reach an amplification region formed, for example, by a high E- field region (between A2 and A3) where they are photo- absorbed at point C and generate UV light in Xenon, i.e. electro-luminescence upon collisions with gas Xenon atoms and molecules.
  • the UV photons in turn produce photoelectrons in the 2D array of Csl photodetectors 506.
  • a 4 is an isolated wire electrode which is used to extract photo-electrons from the cathodes of detector 506.
  • Centroid measurements taken at A 4 and detectors 506 give the X-Y position of the vertices of the incoming gamma ray (See Fig. 3.)
  • the longitudinal (Z) position of the gamma ray G is determined by timing the difference t,-t 0 where t, is the time of occurrence of luminescence and t 0 the time of occurrence of the initial scintillation signal as described in connection with Fig. 3.
  • the weighted sum of correlated scintillation and electro-luminescence signals gives the energy measurement. Using kinematics one can then determine which one of the multi-vertices is the first interaction vertex of the gamma ray.
  • positron tomography In positron tomography, positrons emitted from isotopes such as 0 15 , are annihilated within an object to produce two back to back 511 KeV gamma (7) -rays.
  • a PET detector is used to measure the two 7-rays in coincidence in order to reconstruct the tomographic medical image.
  • the spatial resolution of PET scanners has improved rapidly over the last few years.
  • the most frequently used detector configuration consists of several rings of scintillation crystals coupled to PMTs.
  • the improvement in spatial resolution has been accomplished by increasing the number of scintillation crystals and associated electronics per detector ring. This increases the cost and complexity of the detectors dramatically.
  • a typical state-of-art positron scanner with small BGO crystals consists of eight rings of detectors giving fifteen transverse section images with a slice thickness of 8 mm and an axial field of view of 12 cm.
  • the sensitivity of these scanners is low due to the poor energy resolution of the crystals and the small acceptance in the axial angle.
  • an increase in the detection efficiency and an improvement in the noise to signal ratio are required.
  • FIG. 9 A schematic drawing of an LXe PET, in accordance with the invention, is shown in Figure 9. Note: For simplicity, the cryostat housing and gas coupling lines etc. required (as in Fig. 8) are shown only as dotted lines 514A and 514B.
  • the LXe PET consists of two LXe scintillation detectors 515A and 515B operating in coincidence by detecting scintillation bursts of two back- to-back 511 KeV 7-rays Gl, G2.
  • the X, Y and Z positions, or vertices, are defined at each detector in the manner described earlier for the LXe SDC of Fig. 8. To obtain the imaging projection we use the following methods:
  • the interaction vertices of the first two back-to-back 511 KeV 7-ray ⁇ absorbed at each detector are connected.
  • the point of scattering in the patient in the case of one 7-ray scattered in the patient and both 7's scattered in the detectors is determined.
  • the data set of many such projections enables the reconstruction of the tomographic medical images using algorithms of focused tomography for longitudinal planes.
  • the fast Xe scintillation signal provides a trigger.
  • the centroid positions in X an Y, and the total energy are independently measured by the scintillation light and drift electron signals.
  • the PET contains two rings of PMTs 501A,501B submerged in liquid xenon to detect the scintillation light from absorbed gammas as shown in Figure 9.
  • the anode signals from PMTs after pre-amplifying and shaping, are digitized with a fast analog to digital converter (FADC) 520 to provide the X, Y, and Z spatial and timing information and to avoid the digitization process from limiting the count rate performance.
  • FADC fast analog to digital converter
  • the anode signals from the PMTs 501A,501B are fed into fast (non-integrating) buffer amplifiers and then split into a fast and slow circuit.
  • the fast signals from each PMT are summed to determine if a coincidence of direct scintillation light from top and bottom SDCs 515B,515A has occurred.
  • This coincidence signal is used as a strobe to trigger PMT FADCs 520 to digitize the outputs from spectroscopy amplifiers with the scintillation energy signals and to trigger Csl photocathode FADCs (not shown) .
  • the time difference between the scintillation burst and the electrons arriving at the gap A4-K2 (defined by UV light generated by electron clusters in the gap A2-A3) is determined.
  • one- dimensional Csl photocathode pads of 30 cm length and 5 mm width will be used for X-position centroid measurements to simplify the electronics.
  • the Y-position ⁇ of electron clusters are determined by ionization signal centroid measurements at separated group wires (strips) of the electrode anode A4.
  • About 120 channel electronics with preamplifiers, shaping amplifiers, and FADCs may be required to measure the X-Y position and energy of 7-ray vertices.
  • the advantage of such a readout system is the relatively small number of channels, though it will limit count rate capability of the SDCs.
  • the preferred LXe PET prototype will use a two- dimensional Csl-photocathode pad array consisting of 30x30 1 cm 2 pads.
  • the signal summation will be restricted to Csl pads in the vicinity of the location of the electro ⁇ luminescent burst in the gap A3-A4 for a local centroid calculation.
  • local centroid calculation has the advantage that nearby positioned events in the LXe have a reduced effect on the estimated position.
  • FIG. 11 A novel application of the PET imaging system illustrated in Fig. 9 is illustrated in Fig. 11.
  • the transmitted activating therapy beam (proton accelerator or high energy gamma ray beam) is imaged in an in-line detector (as used as the portal imaging device for the particular radiotherapy application) .
  • the 511 KeV annihilation photons that are produced in the tumor region which decay with the half- life of oxygen-15 (123 sec) are a measure of the degree of the oxygen content, and thus the degree of hypoxia of the tumor.
  • the present detector has substantially better energy resolution than any others used in PET and for this reason alone can restrict the halo to a very small amount, spread over a region two or three centimeters from the source resulting in the lower background.
  • the ability to reconstruct multiple scattering vertices in the detector will permit the identification of most of the remaining halo events, permitting their suppression, or in some cases, the proper reconstruction of the source location.
  • the direction of a gamma ray is reconstructed up to an ambiguity of the azimuthal angle, i.e. lying in the surface of a cone with the half opening angle determined by Equation 2.
  • the point where the first Compton scattering occurs serves as the apex of the cone, while the direction of the scattered gamma ray lies on the symmetry axis of the cone.
  • the azimuthal ambiguity is resolved by fixing the scattering angle of the ray to the value calculated using the measured energies and Equation 5. This information can be used to reconstruct SPECT images or enhance PET imaging.
  • a cone of possible incident gamma ray direction generally can be obtained.
  • the order of the vertices may be a bit ambiguous, in which case two cones can be constructed with different (probability) weights.
  • the distance of the closest approach of this cone (or both cones) to the vertex (or first vertex) in the other detector is determined. If this distance falls within the uncertainty of the calculation, the two points are accepted.
  • the choice can be confirmed by the energies deposited at the two vertices. If two or more vertices are identified in both detectors, the same fit is performed to both, increasing the confidence in the conclusion.
  • the LXe SDC can distinguish different scattering vertices and identify the first scattering vertex based on kinematics.
  • An activity distribution is determined by reconstructing the longitudinal tomographic image using lines connecting the two vertices of the first scattering point on either side of the patient for individual events and reconstructing the point of scattering in the detector of one of the gamma rays.
  • a second method selects the first scattering event inside the LXe PET. In this second method, the events are analyzed using the process described below to select the correct first scattering vertex inside LXe.
  • the two reconstructed first scattering points on either side 515A,515B are connected and the closest approach to the source is computed. The result is shown in Figure 10 which shows the point source precision of 2 mm.
  • the vertex closest to the source is likely to be the first scattering.
  • the detector of the invention has significantly improved efficiency, resolution both in space and energy, and is mechanically simpler than previous x-ray detectors.
  • the cost to construct this device is expected to be a fraction of conventional PET and SPECT images. Because no collimators or large rotating housings are required, the detector is much less intimidating and claustrophobic than previous devices. Energy resolution is expected to be a few percent. Thus, it should be possible to image many isotopes simultaneously. Previous medical imaging systems, because they lacked sufficient energy resolution, could only image a single isotope at a time.
  • the detector uses a single medium, a noble liquid, to both amplify the signal coming from the isotope, and also to generate a secondary "clocking" signal, i.e., the scintillation signal.
  • the spatial resolution of this system is expected to be about one mm, in contrast to several mm for previous systems.
  • the higher efficiency achieved by eliminating the mechanical collimator reduces the amount of radionucleotide required in a typical PET or SPECT scan by about two orders of magnitude.
  • the detector is significantly different from previous x-ray detectors.
  • a noble liquid e.g., Xe
  • a metal grid produces a voltage gradient inside the liquid.
  • the noble liquid produces time-resolved data necessary to locate the scattering events (and ultimately the source of radiation) in three-dimensional space.
  • accelerating electrodes have been used to illustrate the amplification region
  • other means such as multiple wire proportional wire chambers, may be used to perform a similar function.
  • photo- multipliers may be substituted for the Csl cathodes.

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Abstract

Un détecteur (10) de rayons gamma ou X (10) mesure indépendamment les signaux rapides de scintillation et les signaux lents de flux électronique des électrons de recul produits par la diffusion Compton de photons, suivie d'une absorption de photoélectrons, pour reconstituer l'énergie et la direction des photons incidents et l'emplacement de leurs sources.
PCT/US1994/003913 1993-04-08 1994-04-08 Detection de rayonnements et tomographie WO1994024583A1 (fr)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9482762B2 (en) 2014-08-28 2016-11-01 Infineon Technologies Ag Gamma ray detector and method of detecting gamma rays
CN112470039A (zh) * 2018-05-18 2021-03-09 法国放射性废物管理局 用于通过伽马辐射探测进行成像的系统和方法
CN112639533A (zh) * 2018-10-09 2021-04-09 深圳帧观德芯科技有限公司 辐射成像的方法和系统

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Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9482762B2 (en) 2014-08-28 2016-11-01 Infineon Technologies Ag Gamma ray detector and method of detecting gamma rays
CN112470039A (zh) * 2018-05-18 2021-03-09 法国放射性废物管理局 用于通过伽马辐射探测进行成像的系统和方法
CN112639533A (zh) * 2018-10-09 2021-04-09 深圳帧观德芯科技有限公司 辐射成像的方法和系统

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