High resolution photon emission computed tomographic imaging tool

Abstract

An brain scanning apparatus having a scanner device and a host computer. The scanner radiation detectors detect radiation emitted from a desired portion, or slice, of a brain source. The scanner device contains microprocessors and code which control the movement of the radiation detectors and performs the data acquisition over a number of slices and transmits this data to the host computer. The host computer initiates a scan by sending desired setup parameters to the scanner device and instructing the scanner to begin collecting data. During the scan, acquired data is sent to the host computer and spooled to a hard disk. The computer can be instructed to perform a slice by slice reconstruction of the source brain while the scan is taking place in order to produce a 2-dimensional reconstruction of the mapped brain. A complete 3-dimensional reconstruction of all the compiled slices is performed and visually displayed after acquisition of all the required slices.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention provides a very high resolution single-photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) imaging tool for brain function research and brain disease diagnosis. It is intended to complement other functional imaging modalities such as positron emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potential (ERP), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and new, near-infrared optical imaging. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] In the last quarter century the use of brain imaging for the treatment and understanding of diseases and genetic flaws has grown dramatically following the introduction of Tomographic X-Ray (CT) in 1972 followed in 1982 by magnetic resonance in the gene (MRI). The reason for this growth and importance in brain imaging is that neurologists, psychotherapist, and neuro-scientists utilize and attached substantial importance to high resolution, three dimensional anato...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007] The present invention utilizes a collimator with a sharp focus within the object, and steeply tapered holes that provide extremely high sensitivity-resolution characteristics. This requires that the detector be translated and moved radially-but, with sufficient numbers of detectors to provide 360 degree scanfield coverage, no rotational movement is necessary. By its nature, namely the constant size and configuration of the lead collimator throughout the scanning process, the present scanner has uniform resolution throughout the object volume (spatially invariant point spread function “PSF”) and produces zero spatial distortion. Furthermore, it is immune to various gamma camera effects caused by errors in finding exact scintillation locations from weighted photomultiplier output pulses.

Problems solved by technology

Furthermore, it is immune to various gamma camera effects caused by errors in finding exact scintillation locations from weighted photomultiplier output pulses.

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