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An energy window with a gamma peak centered at 364 keV (86%) is usually used for I-131 imaging. However, the image performance indexes such as image count, scatter fraction (SF), spatial resolution (SR) obtained using a conventional gamma camera, which uses a 3/8-in sodium iodide scintillator, are poor mainly due to its low detection efficiency. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using a higher energy peak (637 and 723 keV) for the energy window to obtain a better imaging performance compared with the conventional I-131 imaging method. GATE (v7.0), which is based on Monte Carlo method, was used for performing simulations. A clinical gamma camera, SYMBIA-T2 (Siemens), was mounted on a NaI scintillator in the simulation. A GAGG scintillator was also realized for effective detection of high energy gamma, in addition to using high energy (HE) and ultrahigh energy (UHE) collimators. We obtained I-131 planar images through the conventionally used window method (364 keV ± 10%). The high-energy gamma ray of I 131 (637 and 723 keV) have been additionally used for improving image performance. The scatter correction method was applied to images for suppressing scatter due to high-energy gamma rays. Various indexes are used for validating image performance such as SR, SF, and contrast-to-noise ratio. High-energy gamma rays could be used to increase the image counts, but the other image performances were degraded compared to the scatter-corrected 364 keV images (SF of 6.33 - 27.73%; SR of 0.93 - 6.02%). The UHE collimator was useful in obtaining a better spatial resolution and suppressing scatter components compared with the HE collimator. However, it did not exhibit a sufficient image performance to be considered as a replacement for the HE collimator. In order to use the high-energy gamma rays of I-131 (637 and 723 keV), it is necessary to design a new collimator to control penetration and improve resolution, instead of using a UHE collimator. Furthermore, scatter correction methods also need to be optimized.

A-PET is a quad-head PET scanner developed for use in small-animal imaging. The dimensions of its volumetric field of view (FOV) are 46.1 × 46.1 × 46.1 mm3 and the gap between the detector modules has been minimized in order to provide a highly sensitive system. However, such a small FOV together with the quad-head geometry causes image quality degradation. The main factor related to image degradation for the quad-head PET is the mispositioning of events caused by the penetration effect in the detector. In this paper, we propose a precise method for modelling the system at the high spatial resolution of the A-PET using a LOR (line of response) based ML-EM (maximum likelihood expectation maximization) that allows for penetration effects. The proposed system model provides the detection probability of every possible ray-path via crystal sampling methods. For the ray-path sampling, the sub-LORs are defined by connecting the sampling points of the crystal pair. We incorporate the detection probability of each sub-LOR into the model by calculating the penetration effect. For comparison, we used a standard LOR-based model and a Monte Carlo-based modeling approach, and evaluated the reconstructed images using both the National Electrical Manufacturers Association NU 4–2008 standards and the Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission simulation toolkit (GATE). An average full width at half maximum (FWHM) at different locations of 1.77 mm and 1.79 mm are obtained using the proposed system model and standard LOR system model, which does not include penetration effects, respectively. The standard deviation of the uniform region in the NEMA image quality phantom is 2.14% for the proposed method and 14.3% for the LOR system model, indicating that the proposed model out-performs the standard LOR-based model.

A single-photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT) system with a lanthanum-bromide (LaBr3:Ce) scintillator was proposed and simulated to detect neutron-activated prompt γ-rays from suspicious materials. The optimized parameters of the SPECT system were calculated to achieve the best performance. Under the optimized conditions, energy spectra, spatial images, and elemental ratios were obtained and employed to identify hidden materials. The carbon-to-oxygen ratios of the materials calculated through the simulations were consistent with the corresponding theoretical values while the calculated nitrogen-to-oxygen ratios were slightly different from the corresponding theoretical values. In the proposed system, not only the energy spectrum of each element but also the characteristic intensity ratios obtained using the reconstructed images were used to identify the unknown elements of hidden materials in the three-dimensional spatial domain. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using the SPECT system in field applications.

A collimator is a key component of gamma cameras, which affects imaging performance significantly. Recently, pixelated scintillator arrays are widely applied in the development of highresolution gamma cameras, instead of monolithic scintillator blocks. Therefore, combining the collimator and the pixelated scintillator has been a crucial factor in achieving good imaging performance. In this study, we investigated the effects of the shape and position of a collimator hole on the image resolution of a gamma camera with a pixelated scintillator. We designed a pixel-matched collimator and a low-energy high-resolution (LEHR) collimator with hexagonal shaped holes that have the same collimator geometrical efficiency. Simulation experiments were performed with a Monte Carlo simulation package (GATE v7.0). For both types of collimator, camera sensitivity was measured for validating the collimator efficiency, and planar images were obtained to measure spatial resolution, with changing the line profile angle based on the septa direction. Camera sensitivities for both collimators were equivalent (difference = 1.76 ± 0.51%). In contrast to the case of the pixel-matched collimator, in the case of the LEHR collimator, as the angle of the line profile varied, the spatial resolution showed a difference at each profile angle. In the case when two collimator holes symmetrically matched with one scintillator pixel, the spatial resolution showed a 64.87% difference in its maximum and a position distortion of 26.06% from the original source position, according to the profile angle, compared to the other unmatched cases. These results showed that using a pixel-matched collimator in gamma camera systems employing a pixelated scintillator is essential for the exact delineation of small regions using high resolution gamma camera imaging

The aim of this study is to design and evaluate a multi-pinhole (MP) collimator for a gamma imaging system that requires a high sensitivity, organ-specific, and small footprint. To ensure these requirements, we designed an eight-hole collimator that can be integrated into a small field-of-view gamma camera for imaging the thyroid or relatively sized organs. Each pinhole was designed to have a cylindrical shape with a 2-mm diameter. Experiments were performed with both a two-sphere phantom and a four-rod phantom. An image reconstruction based on the maximum likelihood expectation maximization with the distance-driven method was used for obtaining a 3-dimensional image. For improving the uniformity of the reconstruction image, we modeled the sensitivity of the cylindrical pinhole by calculating the area of the overlapped circle. The results show that the full width at half maximum values of the two-sphere phantom and the four-rod phantom were 7.56 mm (5-mm-diameter source) and 6.84 mm (5-mm-diameter rod), respectively. The scanning time can be reduced by up to 20 minutes in small-organ applications by using developed MP collimator. Thus, the results indicate that the proposed MP collimator is suitable for a fast scan time, as well as for organ-specific and small-footprint applications.

The aim of this study was to develop a high-throughput imaging method for single-photon emission computed tomography. We developed a target-oriented multi-pinhole collimator and limitedangle method for scanning small organs such as the thyroid. To maximize the resolution and the sensitivity of the collimator, we designed a two-level multi-pinhole collimator whose levels were optimized for concave body contours. One level had a center hole whereas the other had surrounding holes. The limited-angle scanning method was employed to obtain tomographic images by using the collimator located near the body contour of the target, and a corresponding image reconstruction algorithm was implemented. A small-field-of-view gamma camera was used to achieve a smaller footprint. The design of the collimator also considered the dimensions of used gamma camera. Evaluation studies were conducted using the Geant4 application for tomographic emission. The results showed the resolution of the proposed collimator to be more than twice that of the previously designed multi-pinhole collimator while maintaining the same efficiency. Given that the designed collimator can be changed by simply replacing the center hole, the suggested imaging method is suitable for studying not only the thyroid but also any organ whose diameter is less than 90 mm.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the availability of cone-beam computed tomography(CBCT) for gel dosimetry. The absorbed dose was analyzed by using intensity-modulated radiation therapy(IMRT) to irradiate several tumor shapes with a calculated dose and several tumor acquiring images with CBCT in order to verify the possibility of reading a dose on the polymer gel dosimeter by means of the CBCT image. The results were compared with those obtained using magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) and CT. The linear correlation coefficients at doses less than 10 Gy for the polymer gel dosimeter were 0.967, 0.933 and 0.985 for MRI, CT and CBCT, respectively. The dose profile was symmetric on the basis of the vertical axis in a circular shape, and the uniformity was 2.50% for the MRI and 8.73% for both the CT and the CBCT. In addition, the gradient in the MR image of the gel dosimeter irradiated in an H shape was 109.88 while the gradients of the CT and the CBCT were 71.95 and 14.62, respectively. Based on better image quality, the present study showed that CBCT dosimetry for IMRT could be restrictively performed using a normoxic polymethacrylic-acid gel dosimeter.

The sol-gel dip-coating method is a simple and inexpensive technique compared to molecular beam epitaxy and chemical vapor deposition. In spite of extensive research over the past several years, the temperature-dependent photoluminescence in ZnO is still not fully understood. The temperaturedependent PL of ZnO thin films grown on quartz substrate by using the dip-coating method are investigated. According to Haynes’ empirical rule, the peak at 3.320 eV could be attributed to two electron satellites (TES). Theoretically, the radiative lifetime of the free excitons increases with temperature. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) is theoretically fitted by the experimental data. In the case of exciton-LO phonon coupling, the FWHM value of the donor-acceptor pair (DAP) is larger than that of the free-to-neutral-acceptor (e,A0). In the case of the exciton-acoustic-phonon coupling strength, however, the value of the DAP is smaller than that of the (e,A0).