Patent ID: 6403961
Filing Date: 2002-06-11
Classification: A61B,G01T

Abstract:
In a nuclear scintillation camera having a scintillation crystal for detecting a plurality of nuclear events and for generating a light scintillation corresponding to each detected nuclear event, an array of photodetectors for detecting light scintillations generated by the scintillation crystal, each light scintillation being detected by a plurality of the photodetectors in the array, each of the plurality of photodetectors generating an electrical signal corresponding to the intensity of light detected by that photodetector, a method for generating an image of the distribution and intensity of the nuclear events, the method comprising the steps of:a) receiving signals from the plurality of photodetectors with respect to each nuclear event; b) applying a plurality of positioning algorithms to the signals to calculate a plurality of position data, each position data being generated by each respective positioning algorithm; and c) producing an image using the plurality of position data; whereby, when a small number of nuclear events are detected, a recognizable image can be obtained.