title: Characterization of a high-purity germanium detector for small-animal SPECT.
abstract: We present an initial evaluation of a mechanically cooled, high-purity germanium double-sided strip detector as a potential gamma camera for small-animal SPECT. It is 90 mm in diameter and 10 mm thick with two sets of 16 orthogonal strips that have a 4.5 mm width with a 5 mm pitch. We found an energy resolution of 0.96% at 140 keV, an intrinsic efficiency of 43.3% at 122 keV and a FWHM spatial resolution of approximately 1.5 mm. We demonstrated depth-of-interaction estimation capability through comparison of pinhole acquisitions with a point source on and off axes. Finally, a flood-corrected flood image exhibited a strip-level uniformity of less than 1%. This high-purity germanium offers many desirable properties for small-animal SPECT.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Lindsay C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Desmond L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: Ethan L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Hull
authors.forename: Todd E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Peterson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004867:Equipment Design; D015902:Gamma Cameras; D005857:Germanium; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D023421:Models, Animal; D010315:Particle Accelerators / Q000295:instrumentation; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D005857:Germanium