Monte Carlo and experimental evaluation of a Timepix4 compact gamma camera for coded aperture nuclear medicine imaging with depth resolution.

[Display omitted] • Development of a new CdTe-based compact gamma camera using a Timepix4 readout circuit. • Use of a coded aperture mask collimator for high sensitivity and axial depth resolution. • Monte Carlo simulations showed a sensitivity of 0.2 cps/kBq, a lateral resolution of 1.7 mm and an axial resolution of 7.3 mm. • First experimental tests with a Si Timepix4 detector are reported and compared to Monte Carlo simulations. We designed a prototype compact gamma camera (MediPROBE4) for nuclear medicine tasks, including radio-guided surgery and sentinel lymph node imaging with a ^99mTc radiotracer. We performed Monte Carlo (MC) simulations for image performance assessment, and first spectroscopic imaging tests with a 300 μm thick silicon detector. The hand-held camera (1 kg weight) is based on a Timepix4 readout circuit for photon-counting, energy-sensitive, hybrid pixel detectors (24.6 × 28.2 mm² sensitive area, 55 μm pixel pitch), developed by the Medipix4 Collaboration. The camera design adopts a CdTe detector (1 or 2 mm thick) bump-bonded to a Timepix4 readout chip and a coded aperture collimator with 0.25 mm diameter round holes made of 3D printed 1-mm thick tungsten. Image reconstruction is performed via autocorrelation deconvolution. Geant4 MC simulations showed that, for a ^99mTc source in air, at 50 mm source-collimator distance, the estimated collimator sensitivity (4 × 10⁻⁴) is 292 times larger than that of a single hole in the mask; the system sensitivity is 0.22 cps/kBq (2 mm CdTe); the lateral spatial resolution is 1.7 mm FWHM. The estimated axial longitudinal resolution is 8.2 mm FWHM at 40 mm distance. First experimental tests with a 300 μm thick Silicon pixel detector bump-bonded to a Timepix4 chip and a high-resolution coded aperture collimator showed time-over-threshold and time-of-arrival capabilities with ²⁴¹Am and ¹³³Ba gamma-ray sources. MC simulations and validation lab tests showed the expected performance of the MediPROBE4 compact gamma camera for gamma-ray 3D imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]