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Digital Scintigraphy: Principles, Design, and Performance

Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center, the Evans Memorial Department of Clinical Research, and University Hospital, Boston University Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts

Correspondence: For reprints contact: Sebastian Genna, PhD, Boston Veterans Administration Medical Ctr., 150 So. Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02130.

ABSTRACT

In a digital camera the position of a scintillation event is computed following analog-to-digital conversion of photomultiplier pulse charges. Digital position analysis is essentially a mathematical inversion procedure based upon calibrated responses of the photomultipliers to scintillations from a narrow-beamed source that maps a detector's field of view. Operationally, a camera's image characteristics are optimized by means of computer-generated inversion reference tables, individually tailored to the specific response characteristics of each detector. Design considerations indicate that cameras of varied configurations, e.g., linear, disc-shaped, rectangular, or cylindrical, can be analyzed by this method. Also, for any given electro-optical system, energy resolution, spatial characteristics, and event-rate performance can be made superior to analog systems. The measured performances of a one-dimensional test camera, although limited in its optical and electronic design, support this conclusion.