Performance Comparison of an Ultra Ultra High Resolution to a Low Energy High Resolution SPECT Collimator in Biosafety Level-4 Containment

Thursday, October 11, 2012 — Poster Session III
10:00 a.m. – Noon	Natcher Conference Center, Building 45	NIAID	IMAG-15

Authors

• C.Z. Leyson
• J. Seidel
• R.E. Maass-Moreno
• R.C. Reba

Abstract

Introduction: To meet the requirements of a biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) imaging room at NIAID’s Integrated Research Facility, the SPECT/CT imaging configuration was modified to include a containment tube surrounding subjects that extends from the BSL-4 area into the imaging room. The containment tube restricts the SPECT orbital radius to 33 cm which exceeds typical radii in clinical environments. A standard, low-energy high-resolution (LEHR) collimator is expected to produce inadequate resolution in this environment. A new, ultra-ultra high-resolution (UUHR) collimator was supplied by the camera manufacturer and we compared its performance relative to a LEHR collimator. Results: We found that system spatial resolution degraded less with distance from UUHR collimators than for LEHR collimators. The system planar sensitivity of UUHR collimators was only 33.6% of that of LEHR collimators. The resolution in SPECT images acquired with UUHR collimators was much improved over the resolution obtained with LEHR collimators. Conclusion: In our BSL-4 setting, we can achieve the same SPECT resolution (10-11 mm FWHM) with the UUHR collimator as is obtained in typical clinical settings with the LEHR collimator. The administration of a higher dose or a longer scan time can easily compensate for the reduced sensitivity of the UUHR collimator.

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