Patent ID: 6242744
Filing Date: 2001-06-05
Classification: A61B,G01T

Abstract:
A miniaturized gamma ray camera system, having very high spatial resolution for the localization of tumors and being usable for external diagnostic and hand-held use during surgical interventions, the system comprising:(a) a camera comprising:a gamma-ray collimator (1);a scintillating crystal (2), producing an optical signal when struck by a gamma ray, the crystal being disposed adjacent one end of the collimator;a photomultiplier tube (4) adjacent the crystal opposite the gamma-ray collimator, the photomultiplier tube transducing the optical signal into an electrical signal on at least one of a plurality of individual collecting wires, wherein the photomultiplier tube has a cross section of 30 millimeters.times.30 millimeters and a height not less than 20 millimeters and the plurality of individual collecting wires comprise a multi-anode charge collection system comprising not fewer than four collecting wires for determining an X-position on the X axis and not fewer than four collecting wires for determining a Y-position on the Y axis;a plurality of signal preamplifiers (5) each connected for amplifying the signal on a respective one of the collecting wires; andcladding (3) around the collimator, crystal, photomultiplier tube, and preamplifiers; and(b) an electronic device (6) coupled to the camera and comprisinga hard-wired circuit (8) comprising operational amplifiers, the circuit accepting a respective signal from each signal preamplifier and outputting three signals to three converters respectively, the three signals comprising:(1) a first signal representing a time integration of gamma-ray energy deposited on the scintillating crystal energy, which first signal is coupled to a first analog-to-digital converter (9);(2) a second signal representing an X co-ordinate, which second signal is coupled to a second analog-to-digital converter (10); and(3) a third signal representing a Y co-ordinate, which third signal is coupled to a third analog-to-digital converter (11);whereby an output of the three converters is connectable to a computer including appropriate software to display gamma radiation images imaged by the camera.