In recent years, a new generation of compact gamma cameras, based on monolithic scintillation crystals, has become increasingly widespread. The main advantages of small FoV gamma cameras with respect to the standard ones are high portability, low cost and low weight, allowing several clinical applications, from scintimammography to intraoperative tumor localization. In gamma cameras based on continuous scintillation crystals, intrinsic Spatial Resolution (SR) is mainly affected by two factors: scintillation light collection efficiency and overall crystal thickness. The first affects the counting statistics, the latter impacts on the light distribution width. To fully investigate the potentiality of these devices we took advantage of Monte Carlo simulations as a valuable tool to physically characterize the imaging systems and to establish a priori reference values. GEANT4 toolkit allows to completely describe the phenomenon of light emission and propagation through the media, providing control to all second-order factors existing in real systems. Results show clearly that SR is dependent on the number of photoelectrons produced and on the light spread. Furthermore, the role of refractive index has been unambiguously identified as an important factor affecting light collection and consequently SR.

Monte carlo simulation to evaluate factors affecting imaging performances of compact scintillation gamma camer / Borrazzo, Cristian; Bettiol, Marco; Bennati, Paolo; Preziosi, Enrico; Fabbri, Andrea; Scafe, Raffaele; Pellegrini, Rosanna; Pani, Roberto. - 2017:(2017), pp. 1-5. (Intervento presentato al convegno 2016 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference and Room-Temperature Semiconductor Detector Workshop, NSS/MIC/RTSD 2016 tenutosi a Strasbourg, France nel 2016) [10.1109/NSSMIC.2016.8069537].

Monte carlo simulation to evaluate factors affecting imaging performances of compact scintillation gamma camer

Borrazzo, Cristian;Bettiol, Marco;Bennati, Paolo;Preziosi, Enrico;Fabbri, Andrea;Pellegrini, Rosanna;Pani, Roberto
2017

Abstract

In recent years, a new generation of compact gamma cameras, based on monolithic scintillation crystals, has become increasingly widespread. The main advantages of small FoV gamma cameras with respect to the standard ones are high portability, low cost and low weight, allowing several clinical applications, from scintimammography to intraoperative tumor localization. In gamma cameras based on continuous scintillation crystals, intrinsic Spatial Resolution (SR) is mainly affected by two factors: scintillation light collection efficiency and overall crystal thickness. The first affects the counting statistics, the latter impacts on the light distribution width. To fully investigate the potentiality of these devices we took advantage of Monte Carlo simulations as a valuable tool to physically characterize the imaging systems and to establish a priori reference values. GEANT4 toolkit allows to completely describe the phenomenon of light emission and propagation through the media, providing control to all second-order factors existing in real systems. Results show clearly that SR is dependent on the number of photoelectrons produced and on the light spread. Furthermore, the role of refractive index has been unambiguously identified as an important factor affecting light collection and consequently SR.
2017
2016 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference and Room-Temperature Semiconductor Detector Workshop, NSS/MIC/RTSD 2016
gamma cameras; Monte Carlo transport; refractive index; scintillation crystal; spatial resolution; radiology, nuclear medicine and imaging; instrumentation; nuclear and high energy physics; electronic, optical and magnetic materials
04 Pubblicazione in atti di convegno::04b Atto di convegno in volume
Monte carlo simulation to evaluate factors affecting imaging performances of compact scintillation gamma camer / Borrazzo, Cristian; Bettiol, Marco; Bennati, Paolo; Preziosi, Enrico; Fabbri, Andrea; Scafe, Raffaele; Pellegrini, Rosanna; Pani, Roberto. - 2017:(2017), pp. 1-5. (Intervento presentato al convegno 2016 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference and Room-Temperature Semiconductor Detector Workshop, NSS/MIC/RTSD 2016 tenutosi a Strasbourg, France nel 2016) [10.1109/NSSMIC.2016.8069537].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1071458
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