title: Performance characteristics of a 511-keV collimator for imaging positron emitters with a standard gamma-camera.
abstract: Line-source experiments were conducted to assess the performance of a gamma-camera equipped with a specially designed 511-keV collimator for the planar imaging of positron emitters. The results were compared with the camera performance with routinely used collimators and radionuclides (thallium-201, technetium-99m and gallium-67). With positron emitters, scatter contributed less to the widening of the line spread function than with radionuclides emitting lower photon energies. These observations can be explained by the relative deterioration in the discrimination power of the gamma-camera to reject scattered radiation at low energies. Planar 511-keV imaging may provide relevant clinical information, as we showed by fluorodeoxyglucose studies in a patient with a myocardial infarction and in a patient with a malignant lymphoma. It is concluded that positron emitters can be effectively applied for planar imaging with the generally available gamma-cameras. This study implies that radiotracers developed for positron emission tomography may find a place in the practice of conventional nuclear medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Free University Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Lingen
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Huijgens
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Visser
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Ossenkoppele
authors.forename: O S
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Hoekstra
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Martens
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huitink
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Herscheid
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Teule
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003847:Deoxyglucose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D015902:Gamma Cameras; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D003847:Deoxyglucose