Radiation Detectors for Medical Applications (NATO Science for Peace and Security Series / NATO Science for Peace and Security Series B: Physics and Biophysics)

since Their Discovery By Becquerel And Röntgen, Ionising Radiation And Detectors For Ionising Radiation Have Played An Ever More Important Role In Medical Diagnostics And Therapy. The Use Of Scintillating Materials In The Detection Of Ionising Radiation For Medical Imaging Is The Main Topic Of This Book Intended For An Audience Of Physicists And Engineers. The Book Will Be Useful Both To New Researchers Entering The Field And To Experts Interested To Learn About The Latest Developments. it Starts With An Overview Of The State Of The Art In Using Radiation Detectors For Medical Imaging, Followed By An In Depth Discussion Of All Aspects Of The Use Of Scintillating Materials For This Application. Possibilities To Improve The Performance Of Existing Scintillating Materials And Completely New Ideas On How To Use Scintillating Materials Are Discussed In Detail. The First 4 Chapters Contain A General Overview Of The Applications Of Radiation Detectors In Medicine And Present A Closer Look At The 3 Most Important Subfields, X-ray Imaging, Gamma Ray Imaging And Pet. One Chapter Is Devoted To Semiconductor Detectors, A Promising New Area, And Two Chapters Are Devoted To Recent Technical Advances In Pet. The Remaining 5 Chapters Deal With Scintillating Materials And Their Use In Medical Imaging. doody Review Services reviewer: william R. Hendee, Phd(medical College Of Wisconsin) description: this Is A Collection Of Papers Intended To Describe The State-of-the-art Of Specific Types Of Radiation Detectors Used In Medicine. Both X-ray And Gamma-ray Detectors Are Covered, But Other Detectors (e.g. Ultrasound And Radiofrequency) Are Not Included. The Papers Were Delivered At The Nata Advanced Research Workshop Held In The Crimea, Ukraine In The Fall Of 2005. purpose: the Purpose Is To Present Discussions On The State Of The Field Of Various Radiation Detectors In Medicine, And Not To Focus On The Latest Research Results. This Is A Worthy Objective Of Interest To Physicists And Engineers Involved In Designing Radiation Detectors And Using Them In Clinical Practice. For The Detectors Covered In The 13 Chapters In The Book, This Objective Is Satisfied. audience: the Book Is Written Largely For Individuals Interested In The Physics And Engineering Of Radiation Detectors And Their Clinical Applications. It Will Be Of Limited Interest To Individuals Outside These Rather Narrow Applications. It Could Be Of Interest To Electrical Engineering And Physics Students, But It Is Probably Too Detailed For Students In Biomedical Engineering Or Medical Physics. The Authors Are Highly Credible Experts. features: the Book Covers X-ray And Gamma Ray Detectors And Their Applications To Medicine. Of Particular Interest Is The In-depth Discussion Of Scintillation Detectors In Pet (positron Emission Tomography) Imaging, A Topic Which Encompasses Perhaps Half Of The Book. For Persons Involved In The Science (not Necessarily The Clinical Applications) Of Pet Imaging, These Chapters Are Recommended Reading. The Only Shortcoming Is That The Title Is Much More Inclusive Than Are The Actual Chapters In The Book. assessment: for Someone With An Interest In The Design And Development Of X-ray And Gamma-ray Detectors, This Book Would Be Very Useful. I Do Not Know Of Anything On The Market That Competes With It In Terms Of Up-to-date Information On The Subject. These Individuals May Wish To Read The Chapters Of This Book In Detail. For Others With More Peripheral Interests, The Book Could Serve As A Useful Reference. CONTENTS......Page 6 PREFACE......Page 11 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS......Page 12 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 13 2. HISTORICAL ASPECT OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE......Page 14 3.1. Planar scintigraphy......Page 16 3.2. Single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT)......Page 17 3.3. Positron emission tomography (PET)......Page 20 3.4. Multimodal systems......Page 23 4. PERSPECTIVES OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE IMAGING......Page 24 1. PRESENT STATUS OF X-RAY CT......Page 26 2. DETECTOR INSTRUMENTATION IN MEDICAL CT......Page 28 2.1. Data measurement system......Page 30 2.2. Detector geometry......Page 32 2.3. Channels of the data acquisition system......Page 36 3. FUTURE EVOLUTION OF DATA MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS......Page 44 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 47 2. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS......Page 49 3. SPECT......Page 50 4. THE ANGER CAMERA......Page 53 5. OPTIMIZING POSITIONING IN ANGER CAMERAS......Page 56 6. COLLIMATORS......Page 60 7. SCINTILLATORS FOR SPECT......Page 62 7.2. Luminosity......Page 63 7.3. Photoelectric fraction......Page 64 7.4. Decay lifetime......Page 65 7.6. Natural radioactivity......Page 66 8. RECENTLY DEVELOPED SCINTILLATOR MATERIALS......Page 67 8.2. Segmented multi-crystal arrays......Page 69 8.3. Small field of view cameras......Page 74 8.4. Annular single-crystal SPECT systems......Page 81 8.5. Light optics modification in scintillation cameras......Page 84 8.6. Solid state photodetectors......Page 86 9. CONCLUSION......Page 87 NEW TRENDS IN PET DETECTOR DEVELOPMENTS......Page 91 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 92 2. PET BASED MOLECULAR IMAGING......Page 94 3. IMPROVING SENSITIVITY......Page 97 4. IMPROVING SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL RESOLUTION......Page 99 5. MULTIMODALITY AND MULTIFUNCTIONALITY......Page 102 6.1. Scintillating crystals......Page 105 6.2. Photoconducting materials......Page 107 7. NEW PHOTODETECTORS......Page 109 7.2. Avalanche photodiodes......Page 110 7.3. Hybrid detectors......Page 111 9. INTELLIGENT AND TRIGGERABLE DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEMS......Page 112 10. SIMULATION SOFTWARE......Page 114 11. NEW RECONSTRUCTION AND VISUALISATION ALGORITHMS......Page 116 12. CONCLUSION......Page 118 SEMICONDUCTOR DETECTORS IN RADIATION MEDICINE: RADIOTHERAPY AND RELATED APPLICATIONS......Page 121 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 122 2. INTEGRAL SEMICONDUCTOR DOSIMETRY IN RADIATION THERAPY......Page 123 3. MOSFET DETECTORS......Page 126 4.1. Integral dosimetry in neutron therapy with PIN diodes......Page 137 4.2. Spectroscopy mode silicon radiation detectors in radiation therapy......Page 144 5. SEMICONDUCTOR RADIATION DETECTORS FOR MICRODOSIMETRY IN RADIATION THERAPY......Page 145 6. APPLICATION OF SCINTILLATOR BASED DETECTOR IN RADIATION THERAPY......Page 149 7. CONCLUSION......Page 153 FIRST RESULTS WITH THE CLEARPET SMALL ANIMAL PET SCANNERS......Page 158 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 159 2.1. General design considerations and overall layout......Page 160 2.2. Electronics......Page 163 2.3. The data acquisition......Page 165 3.1. Data rate......Page 167 3.3. Spatial resolution......Page 168 3.4. Time resolution......Page 170 4. IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION......Page 171 5. CONCLUSION......Page 172 INVESTIGATION OF CRYSTAL IDENTIFICATION METHODS FOR ClearPETTM PHOSWICH DETECTOR......Page 174 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 175 2. MEASUREMENT SETUP......Page 176 3. CRYSTAL IDENTIFICATION METHODS......Page 177 3.1. Normalized-last-sample method......Page 179 3.2. Normalized-peak-sample method......Page 180 3.3. Neural networks......Page 181 4.1. Normalized-Last-sample and normalized-Peak-sample methods results......Page 184 4.2. Neural networks results......Page 190 5. CONCLUSIONS......Page 195 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 199 2. HISTORIC DEVELOPMENTS......Page 200 3.1. Limits on the scintillation speed......Page 201 3.2. Limits to the light output......Page 204 3.3. Limits to the energy resolution......Page 205 3.4. The ultimate density......Page 207 4. DIRECTIONS IN SCINTILLATION MATERIALS RESEARCH......Page 210 5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS......Page 214 SCINTILLATION DETECTORS FOR MEDICAL AND BIOLOGY APPLICATIONS: MATERIALS, DESIGN AND LIGHT COLLECTION CONDITIONS......Page 216 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 217 2.1. Motion of scintillation photons in the coordinate and angle spaces......Page 219 2.2. Average light collection coefficient and its axial non-uniformity......Page 222 3.1. X-ray computer tomographs......Page 225 3.2. Positron emission tomographs......Page 226 3.3. New trends in the development of scanning diagnostic equipment......Page 230 3.4. Gamma-cameras......Page 234 4. THIN SCINTILLATION FILMS FOR BIOLOGICAL MICROTOMOGRAPHY......Page 238 4.1. A brief review: growth and properties of oxide scintillation thin films......Page 240 5. CONCLUSIONS......Page 245 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 250 2. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES......Page 254 3. SCINTILLATION PROPERTIES......Page 255 4. CRYSTAL GROWTH......Page 256 6. FUTURE USES OF LSO: CE IN PET......Page 260 7. CONCLUSION......Page 262 INORGANIC SCINTILLATORS IN POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY......Page 265 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 266 2. INORGANIC SCINTILLATORS......Page 268 3. POSITION RESOLUTION AND DEPTH OF INTERACTION......Page 272 4. COINCIDENCE-TIME RESOLUTION, RANDOM COINCIDENCES, TIME OF FLIGHT AND DEAD TIME......Page 275 5. CONCLUSION......Page 277 CRYSTAL FIBERS AND THIN FILMS FOR IMAGING APPLICATIONS......Page 281 2.1. Introduction......Page 282 2.2. Growth processes......Page 284 3.1. Potential applications for imaging......Page 287 3.2. Growth processes......Page 288 4.1. Planar spectrum shifter......Page 291 4.2. Planar scintillation screens......Page 292 5. CONCLUSIONS......Page 293 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 298 2. OUTLINE OF THE PROBLEM......Page 299 3. STUDY OF ENERGY RESOLUTION AND NON-PROPORTIONALITY......Page 301 4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS......Page 317 The "NATO Advanced Research Workshop on radiation detectors for medical imaging", held in Alushta (Crimea, Ukraine) in September 2005 was a unique event and I am very pleased that the proceedings are published in the prestigious NATO Security Through Science series. Since their discovery by Becquerel and Röntgen, radiation and radiation detectors have played an ever more important role in medical diagnostics and therapy. The spirit of such NATO workshops is to give an overview of the present state of the field, rather than to bring the latest research results. We have been very lucky to have with us several of the worlds leading experts in the use of radiation detectors for medial imaging, resulting in a number of extremely interesting overview talks. The talks of these 14 keynote speakers to the NATO workshop are published in the present volume. The presentations by A. Gektin and W. Moses were combined in one common paper, so that the present book only has 13 chapters. We are sure most of these contributions will prove of lasting value. We are particularly grateful to the "NATO science committee" that has financially supported the meeting. Thanks to the NATO funding we have been able to cover a significant fraction of the expenses for a total of 48 participants to this workshop. Without this support a number of participants from central and east Europe would most probably not have had the possibility to attend The topic of this book is the use of scintillating materials in the detection of ionising radiation for medical imaging. The text surveys the state of the art in radiation detectors for medical imaging, followed by an in-depth review of all aspects of the use of scintillating materials. Also included are detailed discussion of ways to improve the performance of existing scintillating materials and completely novel uses of scintillating materials.