Patent ID: 10314551

Abstract:
Disclosed is a detector for a positron imaging unit, comprises a hollow body with an inner cylindrical wall and an outer wall spaced apart from the inner cylindrical wall. The hollow body includes a scintillating material, suitable to emit photons once hit by a 511 keV γ-ray, and one or more pairs of photo-detecting units (e.g. comprising PMTs or SiPM) for detecting photons emitted by the scintillating material; each photo-detecting unit of a pair being placed at opposite ends of the inner cylindrical wall along a radial direction. The scintillating material has scintillation decay time τ lower than 10 ns, an atomic number greater than 10, and a high scintillation yield greater than 8,000 photons/MeV, and comprises a mixture of xenon and argon. An imaging unit including the detector and a method to estimate the differential of the dose of radiation provided in a subject to cancer cells and to surrounding tissues in the course of hadrotherapy is also disclosed.