Crystal diffraction lens for medical imaging

Robert K. Smither; Dante Eduardo Roa

doi:10.1117/12.384508

25 April 2000 Crystal diffraction lens for medical imaging

Robert K. Smither, Dante Eduardo Roa

Proceedings Volume 3977, Medical Imaging 2000: Physics of Medical Imaging; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.384508
Event: Medical Imaging 2000, 2000, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

A crystal diffraction lens for focusing energetic gamma rays has been developed at Argonne National Laboratory for use in medical imaging of radioactivity in the human body. A common method for locating possible cancerous growths in the body is to inject radioactivity into the blood stream of the patient and then look for any concentration of radioactivity that could be associated with the fast growing cancer cells. Often there are borderline indications of possible cancers that could be due to statistical functions in the measured counting rates. In order to determine if these indications are false or real, one must resort to surgical means and take tissue samples in the suspect area. We are developing a system of crystal diffraction lenses that will be incorporated into a 3- D imaging system with better sensitivity (factors of 10 to 20) and better spatial resolution (a few mm in both vertical and horizontal directions) than most systems presently in use. The use of this new imaging system will allow one to eliminate 90 percent of the false indications and both locate and determine the size of the cancer with mm precision. The lens consists of 900 single crystals of copper, 4 mm X 4 mm on a side and 2 - 4 mm thick, mounted in 13 concentric rings.

Citation Download Citation

Robert K. Smither and Dante Eduardo Roa "Crystal diffraction lens for medical imaging", Proc. SPIE 3977, Medical Imaging 2000: Physics of Medical Imaging, (25 April 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.384508

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available