On high sensitivity emission imaging by scattered gamma radiation

A new concept of gamma emission imaging based on the use of scattered radiation with a non collimated gamma camera is put forward. A few years ago, scattered radiation by Compton effect is shown to be capable to reconstruct a three dimensional object using a standard collimated gamma camera. To increase drastically in sensitivity, we propose now that data acquisition should be performed without collimation. We present this new image formation by scattered radiation via the properties of its Point Spread Functions (PSF). Comparison with the PSF in the presence of a collimator exhibits a striking image enhancement. We also present numerical simulations on image formation and reconstruction to support the attractiveness of this modality.