Download Scintigraphy ("scint") is the use of gamma cameras to capture

NUCLEAR MEDICINE
Gamma Camera
Nuclear medicine is a branch or specialty of medicine and medical
imaging that uses radionuclides in the diagnosis and treatment of
disease.
In nuclear medicine procedures, elemental radionuclides are
combined with other elements to form chemical compounds, or
else combined with existing pharmaceutical compounds, to form
radiopharmaceuticals.
These radiopharmaceuticals, once administered to the patient,
can localize to specific organs or cellular receptors.
This property of radiopharmaceuticals allows nuclear medicine
the ability to image the extent of a disease-process in the body,
based on the cellular function and physiology, rather than
relying on physical changes in the tissue anatomy.
In some diseases nuclear medicine studies can identify medical
problems at an earlier stage than other diagnostic tests.
Nuclear medicine tests differ from most other imaging modalities
in that diagnostic tests primarily show the physiological function
of the system being investigated as opposed to traditional
anatomical imaging such as CT or MRI.
Nuclear medicine imaging studies are generally more organ or
tissue specific (e.g.: lungs scan, heart scan, bone scan, brain scan,
etc.) than those in conventional radiology imaging, which focus on
a particular section of the body (e.g.: chest X-ray, abdomen/pelvis
CT scan, head CT scan, etc.).
In addition, there are nuclear medicine studies that allow imaging
of the whole body based on certain cellular functions.
Technetium-99m is used in 20 million diagnostic nuclear
medical procedures every year.
Approximately 85 percent of diagnostic imaging procedures in
nuclear medicine use this isotope.
Depending on the type of nuclear medicine procedure, the
Tc-99m is tagged (labelled or bound) to a pharmaceutical that
transports the Tc-99m to its required location.
In nuclear medicine imaging, radiopharmaceuticals are taken
internally, for example intravenously or orally.
Then, external detectors (gamma cameras) capture and form
images from the radiation emitted by the radiopharmaceuticals.
This process is unlike a diagnostic X-ray where external radiation
is passed through the body to form an image.
Gamma camera
A gamma camera, also called a scintillation camera or Anger
camera, is a device used to image gamma radiation emitting
radioisotopes, a technique known as scintigraphy.
The applications of scintigraphy include nuclear medical imaging
to view and analyse images of the human body or the distribution
of medically injected, inhaled, or ingested radionuclides emitting
gamma rays.
Once a radiopharmaceutical has been administered, it is
necessary to detect the gamma ray emissions in order to attain
the functional information.
The instrument used in Nuclear Medicine for the detection of
gamma rays is known as the Gamma camera.
The components making up the gamma camera are:
1-collimator
2-detector crystal
3-photomultiplier tubes
4-position logic circuits
5-data analysis computer.
1. Camera Collimator
The first object that an emitted gamma photon encounters after
exiting the body is the collimator.
The collimator is a pattern of holes through gamma ray
absorbing material, usually lead or tungsten, that allows the
projection of the gamma ray image onto the detector crystal.
The collimator achieves this by only allowing those gamma rays
traveling along certain directions to reach the detector.
The mostly commonly used collimators are the parallel hole
collimators , either high sensitivity or high resolution.
A- In the absence of collimation
there is no relationship between the
position at which a gamma ray hits
the detector
B- The parallel-hole collimator forms an
image by excluding all gamma rays
except those travelling parallel
to the hole’s axis.
2. Scintillation Detector
In order to detect the gamma photon we use scintillation detectors.
A Thallium-activated Sodium Iodide [NaI(Tl)] detector crystal is generally used in
Gamma cameras.
This is due to this crystal's optimal detection efficiency for the gamma ray.
A detector crystal may be circular or rectangular.
A gamma ray photon interacts with the detector by means of the photoelectric
effect with the iodide ions of the crystal of the Sodium Iodide , this interaction
causes the release light.
3. Photomultiplier Tubes
Only a very small amount of light is given off from the scintillation
detector. Therefore, photomultiplier tubes are attached to the back of the
crystal.
At the face of a photomultipler tube (PMT) is a photocathode which, when
stimulated by light, ejects electrons.
The PMT is an instrument that detects and amplifies the electrons that are
produced by the photocathode.
This electron from the cathode is focused on a dynode which absorbs this
electron and re-emits many more electrons (usually 6 to 10).
These new electrons are focused on the next dynode and the process is
repeated over and over in an array of dynodes.
At the base of the photomultiplier tube is an anode which attracts the final
large cluster of electrons and converts them into an electrical pulse.
4. Position Circuit
The position logic circuits immediately follow the photomultiplier tube
array and they receive the electrical impulses from the tubes in the
summing matrix circuit.
5. Data Analysis Computer
Finally, in order to deal with the incoming projection data and to process it
into a readable image, a processing computer is used. The computer may
use various different methods to reconstruct an image.
SPECT/CT
• Scintigraphy ("scint") is the use of gamma cameras to capture
emitted radiation from internal radioisotopes to create twodimensional images.
• SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) imaging,
as used in nuclear cardiac stress testing, is performed using
gamma cameras, usually one, two or three detectors or heads,
are slowly rotated around the patient's torso.
• SPECT/CT The 3D images of SPECT gamma camera can be
mounted with CT to obtain anatomical together with
physiological images.
Thank you and Good Luck
Prof. Dr. Omar Shebl Zahra