title: Design and development of a dedicated portable gamma camera system for intra-operative imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We developed a high performance portable gamma camera platform dedicated to identification of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) and radio-guided surgery for cancer patients. In this work, we present the performance characteristics of SURGEOSIGHT-I, the first version of this platform that can intra-operatively provide high-resolution images of the surveyed areas.
  
  
  METHODS
  At the heart of this camera, there is a 43×43 array of pixelated sodium-activated cesium iodide (CsI(Na)) scintillation crystal with 1×1mm(2) pixel size and 5mm thickness coupled to a Hamamatsu H8500 flat-panel multi-anode (64 channels) photomultiplier tube. The probe is equipped with a hexagonal parallel-hole lead collimator with 1.2mm holes. The detector, collimator, and the associated front-end electronics are encapsulated in a common housing referred to as head.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results show a count rate of ∼41kcps for 20% count loss. The extrinsic energy resolution was measured as 20.6% at 140keV. The spatial resolution and the sensitivity of the system on the collimator surface was measured as 2.2mm and 142cps/MBq, respectively. In addition, the integral and differential uniformity, after uniformity correction, in useful field-of-view (UFOV) were measured 4.5% and 4.6%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This system can be used for a number of clinical applications including SLN biopsy and radiopharmaceutical-guided surgery.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sanaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaviani
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Navid
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zeraatkar
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Salar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sajedi
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Afshin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akbarzadeh
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Nahid
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gorjizadeh
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Hossein
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Farahani
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Behnoosh
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Teimourian
authors.affiliation: Chronic Respiratory Disease Research Center, NRITLD, Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; PET/CT and Cyclotron Center, Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Pardis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghafarian
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sabet
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: mohammadreza_ay@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Ay
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D004867:Equipment Design; D015902:Gamma Cameras; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy
keywords: Breast cancer; Intra-operative gamma camera; Lymphoscintigraphy; SURGEOSIGHT-I; Sentinel lymph node (SLN)