Patent ID: 7579600

Claim:
A preclinical nuclear imaging detector system, comprising: a gantry and a plurality of detector assemblies, said gantry being fixed and configured for securing said plurality of detector assemblies substantially about an axis to thereby describe a portion of a detector perimeter; said plurality of detector assemblies each comprising a scintillator configured to interact with radiation emanating from a test object being imaged, at least one pinhole collimator, having a plurality of pinhole apertures formed therein, said pinhole collimator disposed between said test object and said scintillator, wherein a distance f between the pinhole collimator and the scintillator is selected as a function of the number of pinhole apertures provided in said collimator, such that said plurality of pinhole apertures collectively project a unitary minified radiation image of said target object onto said scintillator; and at least one photosensor optically coupled to said scintillator to receive interaction events from said scintillator.