• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.107-113
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to develop a miniature imaging gamma probe with high performance that can detect small or residual tumors after surgery. Gamma probe detector system consists of NaI(Tl) scintillator, position sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT), and collimator. PSPMT was optically coupled with 6.5 mm thick, 7.62 cm diameter of NaI(Tl) crystal and supplied with -1000V for high voltage. Parallel hexagonal hole collimator was manufactured for characteristics of 40-mm hole length, 1.3-mm hole diameter, and 0.22 mm septal thickness. Electronics consist of position and trigger signal readout systems. Position signals were obtained with summing, subtracting, and dividing circuit using preamplifer and amplifier. Trigger signals were obtained using summing amplifier, constant fraction discriminator, and gate and delay generator module with preamplifer. Data acquisition and processing were performed by Gamma-PF interface board inserted into pentium PC and PIP software. For imaging studies, flood and slit mask images were acquired using a point source. Two hole phantom images were also acquired with collimator. Intrinsic and system spatial resolutions were measured as 3.97 mm and 5.97 mm, respectively. In conclusion, Miniature gamma probe images based on the PSPMT showed good image quality, we conclude that the miniature imaging gamma probe was successfully developed and good image data were obtained. However, further studies will be required to optimize imaging characteristics.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.563-570
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• 1998

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of scintillator and collimator parameters that tradeoff between system sensitivity and spatial resolution. The parameters simulated using Monte Carlo program were scintillator thickness, colimator hole shape, septal thickness, and hole length. The results show that the sensitivity increases exponentially upto about 1 cm of scintillator thickness as the thickness increases. However the sensitivity is almost constant when the scintiallator is thicker than about 1 cm. The simulation of collimator hole shape shows that the hexagonal hole gives the best spatial resolution for the same system sensitivity. The system statical resolution is improved, as both collimator septal thickness and hole length increase, however that system sensitivity is rapidly decreased. In conclusion, The optimization of scintillator and collimator parameters using monte carlo simulation may be useful to develop a high-resolution miniature gamma probe.