Development of a 3D dynamic imaging technique with a multi-pinhole γ-camera

We propose a multi-pinhole γ-camera, comprising multi-pinhole collimators and flat-panel detectors (FPDs), in order to facilitate dynamic imaging of low-energy γ-ray emitters, such as 99mTc. The collimator comprises an array of 9×9 pinholes with an opening angle of 60°, these pinholes are aligned in a lattice arrangement. In order to experimentally verify the 3D imaging capabilities of this γ-camera design, we have conducted preliminary experiments to measure the profile of a thin disk 57Co (122 keV) γ-ray source with a prototype system by using an imaging plate instead of the FPD. The results indicate that it would be able to identify the location of the 57Co γ-ray sources with a spatial resolution of 2.5 mm. We have also carried out a preliminary experiment by using FPD. The results have shown that the proposed system using FPD (C9250DP) could have a time resolution of 13 s per one image for a simple distribution of a 37 MBq 99mTc source.