Initial Performance of SPRINT: A Single Photon System for Emissi on Tomography

SPRINT is a transaxial tomograph for use with single photon emitting nuclides. It consists of an aperture cylinder surrounded by a ring of NaI(Tl) detectors. The singles count rate for each detector is correlated with the aperture cylinder position. This provides a view of the image plane activity distribution from each detector´s perspective. These views are then combined to form a slice image. Preliminary operation of the device has recently been accomplished. The structure of operation and calibration procedures has been defined. The statistical behavior of single detector data agrees with expectations. Individual point source data for a variety of positions agree with calculations for both resolution and sensitivity. These data arrays have been used with a modified ART routine to provide two dimensional source images.