Optimization of a parallel hole collimator/CdZnTe gamma-camera architecture for scintimammography.

PURPOSE: Small field-of-view CdZnTe (CZT) gamma cameras are increasingly studied for breast lesion detection to complement mammography or ultrasonographic findings. However, in classical collimation configurations, they remain limited by the trade-off between spatial resolution and sensitivity. The HiSens architecture was proposed to overcome these limitations. Using an accurate 3D localization of the interactions inside the detector, this architecture leads to a gain in sensitivity without loss in spatial resolution. In this article, the relevance of the HiSens architecture for planar scintimammography is studied. METHODS: A detective quantum efficiency (DQE) computation method is developed and used to optimize the dimensioning of a parallel hole collimator dedicated to scintimammography. Based on the DQE curves, the impact of the collimator-to-detector distance is studied. Two algorithms are proposed to combine data acquired with different collimator-to-detector distances. RESULTS: It is shown that CZT detector virtual pixelization increases system sensitivity by 3.3 while preserving a standard LEHR spatial resolution. The introduction of a gap between the CZT detector and the collimator is useful to modulate the DQE curve shape. The combination of data acquired using different gaps in the image formation process leads to enhanced restoration of the frequency content of the images, resulting in image contrast and spatial resolution improvements. CONCLUSIONS: Acquisition duration or injected activity could be markedly reduced if the HiSens architecture with an appropriate collimator-detector gap were used.

Simulation-based evaluation and optimization of a new CdZnTe gamma-camera architecture (HiSens).

A new gamma-camera architecture named HiSens is presented and evaluated. It consists of a parallel hole collimator, a pixelated CdZnTe (CZT) detector associated with specific electronics for 3D localization and dedicated reconstruction algorithms. To gain in efficiency, a high aperture collimator is used. The spatial resolution is preserved thanks to accurate 3D localization of the interactions inside the detector based on a fine sampling of the CZT detector and on the depth of interaction information. The performance of this architecture is characterized using Monte Carlo simulations in both planar and tomographic modes. Detective quantum efficiency (DQE) computations are then used to optimize the collimator aperture. In planar mode, the simulations show that the fine CZT detector pixelization increases the system sensitivity by 2 compared to a standard Anger camera without loss in spatial resolution. These results are then validated against experimental data. In SPECT, Monte Carlo simulations confirm the merits of the HiSens architecture observed in planar imaging.