Patent ID: 7045789
Filing Date: 2006-05-16
Classification: A61B,G01T

Abstract:
1. A nuclear medical diagnosis apparatus comprising: first and second radiation detectors configured to detect gamma rays emitted from a radioisotope in a subject and output electric signals; a first energy discrimination unit configured to individually discriminate the electric signals output from the first radiation detector, on the basis of energy; a first coincidence determination unit configured to determine a pair of electric signals which are included among the electric signals output from the first radiation detector and which have undergone Compton scattering, on the basis of coincidence of the gamma rays that are incident on the first radiation detector; a first addition/energy discrimination unit configured to add the pair of the electric signals determined by the first coincidence determination unit and individually discriminate resultant electric signals on the basis of energy; a second energy discrimination unit configured to individually discriminate the electric signals output from the second radiation detector, on the basis of energy; a second coincidence determination unit configured to determine a pair of electric signals which are included among the electric signals output from the second radiation detector and which have undergone Compton scattering, on the basis of coincidence of the gamma rays that are incident on the second radiation detector; a second addition/energy discrimination unit configured to add the pair of the electric signals determined by the second coincidence determination unit and individually discriminate resultant electric signals on the basis of energy; a third coincidence determination unit configured to determine coincidence between the gamma rays incident on the first radiation detector and the gamma rays incident on the second radiation detector, on the basis of outputs from the first energy discrimination unit, outputs from the first addition/energy discrimination unit, outputs from the second energy determination unit and outputs from the second addition/energy discrimination unit; and an image generation unit configured to generate an image representing spatial distribution of the radioisotope, on the basis of determination results obtained by the third coincidence determination unit.