We have completed a new small-animal imaging system, called SemiSPECT, based on eight pixellated cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) gamma-ray detector arrays. The detector is a 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm x 0.15 cm slab having a 64 x 64 pixel array. A read-out application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is attached onto the detector via indium-bump bonding, and a -180 V bias is applied onto the detector surface to transport electron-hole pairs generated by gamma-ray interaction. Eight detectors are arranged in an octagonal lead-shielded ring. An eight-pinhole aperture is placed at the center of the ring, and an object is imaged onto each detector through a pinhole. The object can be rotated about a vertical axis to attain sufficient angular projections for tomographic reconstruction. The whole system gantry is compact enough to be placed onto a desktop-sized optical breadboard. Eight front-end boards were developed to detect events, generate list-mode data arrays, and send them to back-end boards. Four back-end boards are utilized to hold the list-mode data arrays and transfer them to a host computer. Eight clock-and-bias boards provide clock and bias signals to the eight ASICs. Eight control-and-bias boards were developed to monitor and control the temperatures on the eight detectors, analog and digital currents supplied to the eight ASICs, and -180 V biases applied to the eight detector surfaces. The spatial resolution provided by SemiSPECT, estimated both based on the system geometry and via the Fourier crosstalk approach, is about 1∼2 mm. The system sensitivity measured with a point source is about 1.53 x 10⁻⁴, and the estimated one from the system geometry is about 1.41 x 10⁻⁴. The energy resolution acquired by summing neighboring pixel signals in a 3 x 3 window is about 10% full-width-at-half-maximum for 140 keV gamma rays. The detectabilities for multiple signal spheres simulating various lesions or organs in a small animal are presented and discussed. A line-phantom image demonstrates that the spatial resolution achieved after tomographic reconstruction is on the order of 1 mm³. A walnut-phantom image is presented to demonstrate how well SemiSPECT reproduces complex structure of an object and compared with a CT image. Images of various organs of mice, such as bone, kidney, and myocardium, and human-lung cancer implanted into a nude mouse are presented and discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/290139 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Kim, Hyunki |
| Contributors | Barrett, Harrison H. |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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