665 results about "Scintillation crystals" patented technology

A gamma camera having a scintillation detector formed of multiple bar detector modules. The bar detector modules in turn are formed of multiple scintillation crystal bars, each being designed to have physical characteristics, such as light yield, to achieve a sufficient spatial resolution for nuclear medical imaging applications. According to another aspect of the invention, the bar detector modules are arranged in a three-dimensional array, where each module is made up of a two-dimensional array of bar detectors with at least one photosensor optically coupled to each end of the module. Such a camera can be used for both PET (coincidence) and single photon imaging applications. According to another aspect of the invention, a bar detector gamma camera is provided, which utilizes an improved positioning algorithm that greatly enhances spatial resolution in the z-axis direction (i.e., the direction along the length of the scintillation crystal bar).

A method for producing a PET image of a tissue using a PET scanner, the scanner comprising a plurality of scintillation crystals (70X/75X) and a plurality of detectors (71X/76X). The method comprises forming a first crystal group (160X) including a first subset of the plurality of crystals; forming a second crystal group (164X) including a second subset of the plurality of crystals, wherein crystals comprising the first crystal group (160X) are different from crystals comprising the second crystal group (164X); converting a first beam (120) striking one or more crystals of the first crystal group (70X/160X) to a first electrical signal (94); converting a second beam striking one or more crystals of the second crystal group (75X/164X) to a second electrical signal (98), wherein the second beam is scattered from the first beam; determining one or both of a first and a second timing relationship, wherein the first timing relationship (Δt2) is a time interval between a value of the first electrical signal (94) and a time reference (t1), and the second timing relationship (Δt3) is a time interval between a value of the second electrical signal (98) and the time reference (t1); correcting the second electrical signal (98) to produce a corrected second electrical signal using a correction factor derived from at least one of the first and the second timing relationships to compensate for energy in the second signal scattered from the first signal; and creating an image of the tissue (12) using the corrected second electrical signal.

A positron emission tomography detector for a multilayer scintillation crystal comprises a plurality of layers of scintillation crystals, a photoelectric detector system and an algorithm system, wherein the multilayer scintillation crystals comprises n layers of array scintillation crystals and m layers of continuous scintillation crystals, both n and m are integers which are greater than or equal to 1, the sum of n and m is smaller than or equal to 10, the array scintillation crystals are formed by arraying strip-type scintillation crystals along the width and length directions, the continuous scintillation crystals are scintillation crystals which have uncut inner parts, the array scintillation crystals and the continuous scintillation crystals are sequentially coupled along the height direction of the strip-type scintillation crystals to form the multilayer scintillation crystals, and the bottoms of the continuous scintillation crystals are coupled with the photoelectric detector system. The positron emission tomography detector can more accurately obtain the position and the time of energy deposition of gamma photon in the scintillation crystal, and has higher detection efficiency of the gamma photon, the spatial resolution, the time resolution and the flexibility of a positron emission tomographic imaging system can be improved when the positron emission tomography detector is applied to the positron emission tomographic imaging system, and further, the imaging quality of the system can be improved.

A radiation detector, in particular a gamma camera, is constructed and operated in such a fashion that only a predetermined number of light sensors (such as PMT's) adjoining each other in a cluster are used to generate a signal with amplitude and event position information. The camera may also use an array of individual scintillation elements (crystals) in place of a single crystal, with certain advantages obtained thereby. According to another aspect of the invention, there is a reflector sheet that defines an array of apertures through which scintillation light can pass from the scintillation crystal to a plurality of light sensors optically coupled to an optical window in an array corresponding to the array of apertures in the reflector.

The invention relates to a scintillation crystal array detecting device, which comprises a crystal array, M*N light guides, an optical fiber splitter unit, an optical fiber merging unit and an opticalfiber signal reading unit, wherein the crystal array comprises M*N crystals for generating fluorescence photons, M represents the number of rows, and N represents the number of columns; each light guide is connected with the surface of a crystal to collect and transmit the fluorescence photons generated by the crystal; the optical fiber splitter unit is used for splitting fluorescence photons transmitted by each light guide into two paths of optical fibers which are a row transmission optical fiber and a column transmission optical fiber to transmit the fluorescence photons; the optical fibermerging unit is used for fusing row transmission optical fibers corresponding to light guides connected with the same row of crystals into a row optical fiber and fusing column transmission optical fibers corresponding to light guides connected with the same column of crystals into a column optical fiber; and the optical fiber signal reading unit is connected with the row optical fibers and the column optical fibers to recognize the numbers of the rows in which the row optical fibers transmitting the fluorescence photons are and the numbers of the columns in which the column optical fibers transmitting the fluorescence photons are to further determine the position of scintillation crystals and detect the total quantity and energy of received fluorescence photons. The device is reduced incost, volume and weight and has high position resolution and fluorescence collection efficiency.

The invention belongs to the field of application of near-infrared laser, nuclear irradiation, electron and image rebuild in systematic biology and medicine. It is characterized in that high-specificity nuclear species and fluorescent probe are implanted in live animal to realize double mark of muscle deep layer or internal organ tumor cell. The emission signal of nuclear species is checked by sensitive electron-multiplier phototube in array copulation position of scintillation crystal; feeble fluorescent signal generated by visible light or infrared agitation is checked by high quantum yield CCD camera. The two checking systems are orthogonally arranged in the same surface, the live nuclear species and fluorescent signal can be checked simultaneously through rotary image cavity, and double module three dimensional tomography image of small animal can be rebuilt with software algorism. The invention is characterized by multi-image forming modules, abundant information and simple operation.

A gamma camera plate incorporates scintillation crystal which is sufficiently thick to effectively capture high energy radiation. The crystal is provided on its light output side with an array of light path-modifying partitions which extend partly through its thickness. These partitions define individual light collimating cells which reduce the light spreading which would otherwise prevent effective use of the plate for low energy radiation.

The invention provides a detector module and a medical imaging device. The detector module comprises a scintillation crystal array, a photoelectric detector array and a readout circuit board, wherein the scintillation crystal array is connected with the photoelectric detector array, and the photoelectric detector array outputs a collected signal through the readout circuit board; the detector module further comprises support blocks positioned on the end part of the scintillation crystal array, and a support board positioned between the photoelectric detector array and the readout circuit board, wherein the support blocks are connected through the support board, and the end blocks, namely, the support blocks and the support board define the space for accommodating the scintillation crystal array and the photoelectric detector array. The detector module disclosed by the invention is high in structural strength, and the coupling between a photoelectric detector and scintillation crystal is good.

The invention provides a scintillation crystal array and a scintillation detector possessing the same. The scintillation crystal array of the invention is formed through arranging a plurality of crystal units according to a predetermined design. And the crystal units are connected with each other through an optical cement or silicone oil. One part of an external surface of the each crystal unit is coated with a reflective film so that the reflective films on a plurality of crystal units can define a light emission surface of the scintillation crystal array together. The scintillation detectorof the invention has the following advantages that flexibility is high; reflectivity is high; the structure is compact; mass production is easy.

The invention relates to a photoelectric converter, a detector and scanning equipment. The photoelectric converter comprises a silicon photomultiplier array and a light guide coupled with the silicon photomultiplier array, wherein the silicon photomultiplier array comprises i*j silicon photomultipliers spliced on a horizontal plane, and the i and the j are both integers greater than or equal to 2. The detector comprises a scintillation crystal, an electronic system, a light guide and silicon photomultipliers. The scanning equipment comprises a detection device and a frame, wherein the detection device comprises the detector, and the detector comprises the photoelectric converter. According to the photoelectric converter, the detector and the scanning equipment, a photoelectric conversion scheme of the photoelectric silicon photomultipliers is mainly employed, the silicon photomultipliers have small volumes and are closely arranged, the silicon photomultipliers in proper dimensions and in proper quantity are matched with the light guide in proper shape, a PET detector with high spatial resolution can be established, so the spatial resolution of the whole PET system can be improved, the PET detector having DOI and TOF performances is proper to establish, application to PET/MRI can be realized, and low cost is further realized.

The invention discloses a conical scintillation crystal module and a processing method thereof. The stereo shape of the appearance of the scintillation crystal module is of a conical table, the top surface of the conical table is mutually parallel to the bottom surface, the top surface is rectangular, and the area of the top surface is greater than that of the bottom surface. The scintillation crystal module is formed by splicing and bonding m*n crystal strips. The processing method comprises the following steps of: calculating the size of each crystal strip according to the size of the conical scintillation crystal module and the array number of the crystal strips, assembling and polishing the crystal strips obtained by processing a batch of crystal strip blanks, and processing the crystal strips into the conical scintillation crystal module as required. By designing the conical scintillation crystal module directly coupled with a photoelectric conversion device, the advantages of improving the sensitivity of a medical imaging system, reducing the problems on data acquisition deletion and improving the imaging quality of the system can be achieved under the condition that the energy resolution and the time resolution of the system are not affected.

The invention provides a method and a device for correcting an energy value. The method comprises the following steps: presetting an energy correction coefficient table; calculating the product of the to-be-corrected energy value of each to-be-corrected single event and the energy correction coefficient of the each to-be-corrected single event to obtain the corrected energy value of the each to-be-corrected single event; counting an energy value-count value curve according to the corrected energy value. The energy correction coefficient is the ratio of a theoretical energy peak value in the energy valve-count value curve obtained by counting an extensive source radiation scintillation crystal array to a detected energy peak, thus the obtained corrected energy value of each to-be-corrected single event deviates towards the theoretical energy value of information about the position of the to-be-corrected single event, thereby eliminating the deviation between an energy value corresponding to a detected count peak value and an energy value corresponding to the theoretical count peak value on the premise of not reducing the statistical information of a scintillation crystal array edge single event.

Present embodiments relate to the calibration of detectors having one or more arrays of pixelated detectors. According to an embodiment, a method includes detecting optical outputs generated by a plurality of scintillation crystals of a detector with an array of pixelated detectors, generating, with the array of pixelated detectors, respective signals indicative of the optical outputs, generating, from the respective signals, a unique energy spectrum correlated to each of the plurality of scintillation crystals, grouping subsets of the plurality of scintillation crystals into macrocrystals, determining a representative energy spectrum peak for each macrocrystal based on the respective energy spectra of the scintillation crystals in the macrocrystal, comparing a value of the representative energy spectrum peak for each macrocrystal with a target peak value, and adjusting an operating parameter of at least one pixelated detector in the array of pixelated detectors as a result of the comparison.

The invention discloses a method for preparing an anhydrous lithium iodide, comprising the following operation steps of: dehydrating the lithium iodide water solution to the lithium iodide powders containing 0.5-1 crystal water; and subsequently carrying out heating and dehydration treatment in vacuum to obtain the anhydrous lithium iodide. The invention also discloses a method for preparing a scintillation crystal doped with the lithium iodide, comprising the following operation steps of: dehydrating the lithium iodide water solution to the lithium iodide powders containing 0.5-1 crystal water; mixing the lithium iodide powder with the doped compound; subsequently carrying out heating and dehydration treatment in vacuum; and subsequently carrying out crystal growth under a vacuum state by adopting a Bridgman method, thus obtaining the scintillation crystal doped with the lithium iodide. The method for preparing the anhydrous lithium iodide has simple operation and no environmental pollution and is easy for large-scale industrial production; the method for preparing the scintillation crystal doped with the lithium iodide has simple process, is not easy to be oxidized at high temperature during the preparation process and can produce the high-quality scintillation crystal doped with the lithium iodide in batches.

The invention provides a detector for positron emission imaging equipment, and positron emission imaging equipment. The detector includes a scintillation crystal and at least one photoelectric sensor array, wherein the scintillation crystal is an integrated scintillation crystal, and is provided with a through hole; the through hole is used for accommodating an object waiting for imaging; the photoelectric sensor array is coupled with the scintillation crystal, and is used for detecting a visible photon which is generated when a gamma photon and the scintillation crystal react; and the gamma photon is generated through positron annihilation effect which occurs in the object waiting for imaging. The detector for positron emission imaging equipment enables the positron emission imaging equipment using the detector to be high in positioning accuracy of the gamma photon, to be high in sensitivity, to be weak in edge effect and to be low in mechanical design difficulty.

The invention disclosed herein is directed to scintillation detectors capable of detecting the position or depth of gamma photon interactions occurring within a scintillator, thereby improving the resolution of ring based positron emission tomography (PET) imaging systems. In one embodiment, the invention is directed to a scintillation detector that comprises at least one pair of side-by-side conjunct scintillation crystal bars having a shared interface between, and a solid-state semiconductor photodetector optically coupled to each output window of each individual scintillation crystal bar. The solid-state semiconductor photodetector includes an array of discrete sensitive areas disposed across a top surface of a common substrate, wherein each sensitive area contains an array of discrete micro-pixelated avalanche photodiodes, and wherein the output window of each scintillation crystal bar is optically coupled to each respective sensitive area in a one-on-one relationship.

The invention provides a reaction position positioning method and apparatus. The method includes receiving the energy information of the visible photon coupled to a scintillation crystal, detected by at least one photoelectric sensor array, and generated by the reaction of the gamma photon with the scintillation crystal, wherein the scintillation crystal is an integrated scintillation crystal and has a through hole for receiving an object to be imaged, and the gamma photon is generated by the positron annihilation effect in the object to be imaged; and determining the reaction position of the gamma photon in the scintillation crystal according to the received energy information, wherein the reaction position is represented by a cylindrical coordinate system. According to the invention, by providing a way for positioning the reaction position of the gamma photon for a positron emission imaging apparatus with the integrated scintillation crystal, the problem that a conventional position calculation method is not suitable for the improved positron emission imaging apparatus can be solved.

A scintigraphic device includes a case open at an application end, and coated by a shielding shell; a collimator positioned inside the case, made of a material with high atomic number and high density and having a plurality of collimation channels extending mutually parallel according to a predefined direction of measurement; a measuring member positioned inside the case in proximity to the collimator and including a scintillation crystal for converting each ionizing radiation originating from a source in exam into light radiation, and at least one photosensor, for determining the energy and the position of each detected event. The measuring member and the collimator are relatively movable to increase and/or reduce the distance between the converter and the application end and consequently to vary the total length of the collimator. The collimator may include two or more blocks at least one of which is movable relative to the others.