A mobile tomographic gamma camera system for acute studies

A mobile tomographic gamma camera system, called Cardiotom Mark 1, has been developed for imaging the myocardium and other small organs. The Cardiotom system is based on a tomographic technique, ectomography, which is a limited view angle method using a rotating slant hole collimator (RSHC) and a stationary detector to produce projection images. This enables the ectomographic system to be implemented as a mobile system. With the system developed, almost 200 perfusion studies have been performed. The system is based on a second-hand detector and a 30° RSHC. By segmenting the collimator, total system efficiency is increased and acquisition time can be reduced by a factor equal to the number of segments. The system developed is PC-based and totally self-contained with data acquisition, reconstruction, and image presentation. The mobility of the system and the fact that the examination requires no patient cooperation enable acute studies of myocardial perfusion in the critically ill patient, either in the intensive care unit or the emergency room. A mobile system with three-dimensional imaging can offer new possibilities in cardiological research and diagnosis