New myocardial SPECT system with CdZnTe semiconductor detectors

A gamma camera with a semiconductor detector enables us to design a new type of a gamma camera geometry. Because the semiconductor gamma camera system does not need a large and heavy gantry with many photomultiplier tubes that is used for a conventional gamma camera system. And with the semiconductor detector we can measure projection data with arbitrary angles. The purpose of our research is to develop a new myocardial single photon emission CT (SPECT) system with a semiconductor detector. We have proposed a concept of a new data acquisition method for a myocardial SPECT system, in which projection data were measured with angles at which the signal to noise ratio in projection data was relatively high. In this paper we evaluated the performance of the proposed system with simulations more accurately, by considering the attenuation of gamma rays and the aperture effect of the collimator. In addition, we developed an evaluation system with two CdZnTe semiconductor detectors. The results obtained with the simulations confirmed the validity of the proposed myocardial SPECT system. And the results of the experiments showed the fundamental performance of our proposed data acquisition system.修士(工学)法政大学 (Hosei University