Development of a compact scintillator-based high-resolution Compton camera for molecular imaging

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2016.06.056
• Publication Date: 2016-06-17T23:52:29Z
• Authors: A. Kishimoto; J. Kataoka; A. Koide; K. Sueoka; Y. Iwamoto; T. Taya; S. Ohsuka
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

Abstract The Compton camera, which shows gamma-ray distribution utilizing the kinematics of Compton scattering, is a promising detector capable of imaging across a wide range of energy. In this study, we aim to construct a small-animal molecular imaging system in a wide energy range by using the Compton camera. We developed a compact medical Compton camera based on a Ce-doped Gd3Al2Ga3O12 (Ce:GAGG) scintillator and multi-pixel photon counter (MPPC). A basic performance confirmed that for 662 keV, the typical energy resolution was 7.4 % (FWHM) and the angular resolution was 4.5° (FWHM). We then used the medical Compton camera to conduct imaging experiments based on a 3-D imaging reconstruction algorithm using the multi-angle data acquisition method. The result confirmed that for a 137Cs point source at a distance of 4 cm, the image had a spatial resolution of 3.1 mm (FWHM). Furthermore, we succeeded in producing 3-D multi-color image of different simultaneous energy sources (22Na [511 keV], 137Cs [662 keV], and 54Mn [834 keV]).