Ch.W. Lerche

Performance tests of two portable mini gamma cameras for medical applications.

We have developed two prototypes of portable gamma cameras for medical applications based on a previous prototype designed and tested by our group. These cameras use a CsI(Na) continuous scintillation crystal coupled to the new flat-panel-type multianode position-sensitive photomultiplier tube, H8500 from Hamamatsu Photonics. One of the prototypes, mainly intended for intrasurgical use, has a field of view of 44×44mm2, and weighs 1.2kg. Its intrinsic resolution is better than 1.5mm and its energy resolution is about 13% at 140keV. The second prototype, mainly intended for osteological, renal, mammary, and endocrine (thyroid, parathyroid, and suprarenal) scintigraphies, weighs a total of 2kg. Its average spatial resolution is 2mm; it has a field of view of 95×95mm2, with an energy resolution of about 15% at 140keV. The main advantages of these gamma camera prototypes with respect to those previously reported in the literature are high portability and low weight, with no significant loss of sensitivity and spatial resolution. All the electronic components are packed inside the mini gamma cameras, and no external electronic devices are required. The cameras are only connected through the universal serial bus port to a portable PC. In this paper, we present the design of the cameras and describe the procedures that have led us to choose their configuration together with the most important performance features of the cameras. For one of the prototypes, clinical tests on melanoma patients are presented and images are compared with those obtained with a conventional camera.

Corrected position estimation in PET detector modules with multi-anode PMTs using neural networks

This paper studies the use of Neural Networks (NNs) for estimating the position of impinging photons in gamma ray detector modules for PET cameras based on continuous scintillators and Multi-Anode Photomultiplier Tubes (MA-PMTs). The detector under study is composed of a 49/spl times/49/spl times/10 mm/sup 3/ continuous slab of LSO coupled to a flat panel H8500 MA-PMT. Four digitized signals from a charge division circuit, which collects currents from the 8/spl times/8 anode matrix of the photomultiplier, are used as inputs to the NN, thus reducing drastically the number of electronic channels required. We have simulated the computation of the position for 511 keV gamma photons impacting perpendicularly to the detector surface. Thus, we have performed a thorough analysis of the NN architecture and training procedures in order to achieve the best results in terms of spatial resolution and bias correction. Results obtained using GEANT4 simulation toolkit show a resolution of 1.3 mm/1.9 mm FWHM at the center/edge of the detector and less than 1 mm of systematic error in the position near the edges of the scintillator. The results confirm that NNs can partially model and correct the non-uniform detector response using only the position-weighted signals from a simple 2D DPC circuit. Linearity degradation for oblique incidence is also investigated. Finally, the NN can be implemented in hardware for parallel real time corrected Line-of-Response (LOR) estimation. Results on resources occupancy and throughput in FPGA are presented.

High-speed data acquisition and digital signal Processing system for PET imaging techniques applied to mammography

This paper is framed into the Positron Emission Mammography (PEM) project, whose aim is to develop an innovative gamma ray sensor for early breast cancer diagnosis. Currently, breast cancer is detected using low-energy X-ray screening. However, functional imaging techniques such as PET/FDG could be employed to detect breast cancer and track disease changes with greater sensitivity. Furthermore, a small and less expensive PET camera can be utilized minimizing main problems of whole body PET. To accomplish these objectives, we are developing a new gamma ray sensor based on a newly released photodetector. However, a dedicated PEM detector requires an adequate data acquisition (DAQ) and processing system. The characterization of gamma events needs a free-running analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with sampling rates of more than 50 Ms/s and must achieve event count rates up to 10 MHz. Moreover, comprehensive data processing must be carried out to obtain event parameters necessary for performing the image reconstruction. A new generation digital signal processor (DSP) has been used to comply with these requirements. This device enables us to manage the DAQ system at up to 80 Ms/s and to execute intensive calculi over the detector signals. This paper describes our designed DAQ and processing architecture whose main features are: very high-speed data conversion, multichannel synchronized acquisition with zero dead time, a digital triggering scheme, and high throughput of data with an extensive optimization of the signal processing algorithms.

Fast circuit topology for spatial signal distribution analysis

We present a novel active and analog readout and preprocessing topology for position sensitive photodetectors (PSPD) that allows to readout a large variety of PSPD devices with different pixel numbers. Additionally, the topology was designed to allow for a significant reduction of analog-to-digital conversion channels. The circuit topology replaces the common passive charge divider and consists of N input stages, N × M weighting stages and M analog adder stages, where N is the number of the input channels, i.e. the number of photodetector pixels and M is the number of outputs. The circuit performs the multiplication of a matrix (the weights) with a vector (signals). For this, the input stage makes M copies of each of the N input signals, the weighting stage multiplies these signal copies with N × M different weights and the output stage adds all weighted copies with the same copy index. For high flexibility, the weights are programmable and the topology allows to interconnect several identical circuits for larger N. As application for the circuit, we present a Neural Network based positioning scheme for γ-ray imaging detectors with thick, monolithic scintillation crystals. We used Monte Carlo simulation for training and evaluation of the method and found that the spatial resolution of the γ-ray imaging detectors was significantly enhanced. The strong border artifacts of the center of gravity positioning scheme in monolithic scintillation crystals could be corrected to a large extent.

Design and Calibration of a Small Animal Pet Scanner Based on Continuous LYSO Crystals and PSPMTs

We report on the design of a small animal PET scanner based on continuous LYSO crystals and position sensitive photomultiplier tubes (PSPMTs), together with the first results from the calibration. The scanner consists of eight compact modules forming an octagon and leaving a port of 110 mm aperture. Each module is made out of a continuous LYSO crystal and a PSPMT, and contains its associated electronics together with its power supply. For each module, five signals are read, summarizing all the information coming out from its 64 anode pads. Therefore, for the whole scanner only 40 signals are digitized. A calibration procedure has been implemented, measuring a spatial resolution of approximately 1.5 mm at the center of the field of view and an energy resolution of 18%. The sensitivity of the system at the center of the field of view, using only 4 modules, is observed to be of about 1%.

Depth of interaction measurement in gamma ray imaging detectors with continuous scintillation crystals

A design for an inexpensive depth of interaction (DOI) detector for gamma rays, suitable for nuclear medical applications, especially positron emission tomography (PET), has been developed, studied by simulations and tested experimentally. The detector consists of a continuous LSO-scintillator of dimensions 42/spl times/42/spl times/10 mm/sup 3/ and a new compact large-area (49/spl times/49 mm/sup 2/) position sensitive photo-multiplier (PSPMT) H8500 from Hamamatsu. Since a continuous crystal is used, the scintillation light distribution is not destroyed and its first 3 moments can be used to determine the energy (0th moment), the centroids along the x- and y-direction (1st moments) and the depth of interaction (DOI), which is strongly correlated to the distributions width and thus its standard deviation (2nd moment). The simultaneous computation of these moments allows a three-dimensional reconstruction of the position of interaction of the /spl gamma/-rays within the scintillating crystal and will be realized by a modified position sensitive proportional (PSP) resistor network. No additional photo detectors or scintillating crystals are needed. According to previous Monte Carlo simulations which estimated the influence of Compton scattering for 511 keV /spl gamma/-rays, the transport of the scintillation light within the detector assembly and also the behavior of the modified PSP resistor network, we expect a spatial resolution of /spl lsim/ 2 mm and a DOI resolution of /spl ap/ 5 mm. The first experimental results presented here yield an intrinsic spatial resolution of /spl lsim/ 1.8 mm and 2.6 mm for the x- and y-direction respectively and a DOI resolution /spl lsim/ 1 cm. Further we measured an energy resolution of 12%-18%.

Impact of crystal quality, geometry and surface finish for 3D impact position measurements in gamma ray detection systems

We have studied several ways of optimizing the 3D impact position measurements for gamma ray imaging detectors based on continuous monolithic large sized and thick scintillation crystals. The readout of such detectors is performed with position sensitive photo multipliers and with a depth of interaction (DOI) enhanced charge division readout. We have studied the effect of the crystal truncation angle, the reflective covering and the absorption and scattering mean free paths of the crystal. In particular, we have simulated and measured the impact on the energy resolution and the 3D spatial resolution. The results show that by optimization of the accessible crystal parameters we can enhance the performances with better resolution and less border compression. For truncated crystals we obtained an improvement of 60% in DOI and energy resolution in the borders and for the spatial resolution we appreciate also less compression in the borders.

Impact of the scattering coefficient of scintillation crystals (LYSO and LSO) on depth of interaction resolution

Intrinsic parameters in scintillation crystals play a crucial role in the measured spatial and energy resolutions. In many cases the measurement of these intrinsic parameters is difficult to be carried out or even there are parameters that need a specific setup to be measured directly, e.g. the intrinsic light yield and the absorption and scattering coefficients. These uncertainties in the parametrization of the characteristics of the scintillation crystals make it quite difficult to evaluate the quality and characteristics of the scintillation crystals and their impact on the resolutions. Results of measurements of depth of interaction and its resolutions for three different scintillation crystals (one LSO and LYSO of two different providers) are presented. We have noticed that for one of the LYSO a worse depth of interaction resolution (ΔDOI) was obtained when compared to the other both crystals. Measurements of the transmittance of all these crystals allow us to obtain the scattering coefficient (αscatt) for wavelengths of λ=0.40–0.50 [μm].We found that different values of the scattering coefficient for the different crystals are consistent with the measured resolutions for the depth of interaction and prove the strong impact of the αscatt for each crystal on the ΔDOI.

Retroreflector arrays for better light collection efficiency of γ-ray imaging detectors with continuous scintillation crystals without DOI misestimation

A method to improve light collection efficiency of γ-ray imaging detectors by using retroreflector arrays has been tested, simulations of the behaviour of the scintillation light illuminating the retroreflector surface have been made. Measurements including retroreflector arrays in the setup have also been taken. For the measurements, positron emission tomography (PET) detectors with continuous scintillation crystals have been used. Each detector module consists of a continuous LSO-scintillator of dimensions 49x49x10 mm3 and a H8500 position-sensitive photo-multiplier (PSPMT) from Hamamatsu. By using a continuous scintillation crystal, the scintillation light distribution has not been destroyed and the energy, the centroids along the x- and y-direction and the depth of interaction (DOI) can be estimated. Simulations have also been run taking into account the use of continuous scintillation crystals. Due to the geometry of the continuous scintillation crystals in comparison with pixelated crystals, a good light collection efficiency is necessary to correctly reconstruct the impact point of the γ-ray. The aim of this study is to investigate whether micro-machine retro-reflectors improve light yield without misestimation of the impact point. The results shows an improvement on the energy and centroid resolutions without worsening the depth of interaction resolution. Therefore it can be concluded that using retroreflector arrays at the entrance side of the scintillation crystal improves light collection efficiency without worsening the impact point estimation.

Digital delay line shaping-zero crossing algorithm for timestamp extraction in PET

Timing resolution is a key parameter in PET scanners in order to reduce random events. However, fully digital DAQ systems working in free-running sampling mode with conversion rates ≪ 100 MHz have to rely on interpolation or model fitting techniques in order to achieve a tight coincidence window. This paper presents a simple but accurate method for on-line timestamp extraction in PET detectors. The proposed algorithm is based on a simple bipolar shaping using digital delays and a subsequent zero-crossing detection by linear interpolation. It can be easily integrated in an FPGA and it operates synchronously with the data processing chain. Experimental results show that this method produces a gaussian time difference spectrum with good timing resolution of σ = 2.20 ns (5.17 ns FWHM) obtained with a fairly moderate conversion rate of 40 MHz.