Title: Simulation studies of a full-ring, CZT SPECT system for whole-body imaging of ^99mTc and ¹⁷⁷Lu

Abstract

Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is an imaging modality that has demonstrated its utility in a number of clinical indications. Despite this progress, a high sensitivity, high spatial resolution, multi-tracer SPECT with a large field of view suitable for whole-body imaging of a broad range of radiotracers for theranostics is not available. With the goal of filling this technological gap, we have designed a cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) full-ring SPECT scanner instrumented with a broad-energy tungsten collimator. The final purpose is to provide a multi-tracer solution for brain and whole-body imaging. Our static SPECT does not rely on the dual- and the triple-head rotational SPECT standard paradigm, enabling a larger effective area in each scan to increase the sensitivity. We provide a demonstration of the performance of our design using a realistic model of our detector with simulated body-sized phantoms filled with ^99mTc and ¹⁷⁷Lu. Our SPECT design can resolve 7.9 mm rods for ^99mTc (140 keV) and 9.5 mm for ¹⁷⁷Lu (208 keV) in a hot-rod Derenzo phantom with a 3-min exposure and reach an image contrast of 78% for ^99mTc and 57% for ¹⁷⁷Lu using the NEMA IQ phantom with a 6-min exposure. Our modified scatter correctionmore » shows an improved contrast-recovery ratio compared to a standard correction. In this paper, we demonstrate the good performance of our design for whole-body imaging purposes. This adds to our previous demonstration of improved qualitative and quantitative ^99mTc imaging of brain perfusion and ¹²³I imaging of dopamine transport with respect to state-of-the-art NaI dual-head cameras. We show that our design provides similar IQ and contrast to the commercial full-ring SPECT VERITON for ^99mTc. Regarding ¹⁷⁷Lu imaging of the 208 keV emissions, our design provides similar contrast to that of other state-of-the-art SPECTs with a significant reduction in exposure. In conclusion, the high sensitivity and extended energy range up to 250 keV makes our SPECT design a promising alternative for clinical imaging and theranostics of emerging radionuclides.« less

Authors:

Huh, Yoonsuk ^[1]; Caravaca, Javier ^[1]; Kim, Jaehyuk ^[2]; Cui, Yonggang ^[3]; Huang, Qiu ^[4]; Gullberg, Grant ^[5]; Seo, Youngho ^[6]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. University of California, San Francisco, CA (United States)
2. University Health Network, Toronto, ON (Canada)
3. Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
4. Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China)
5. University of California, San Francisco, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
6. University of California, San Francisco, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

Publication Date:

Tue Mar 14 00:00:00 EDT 2023

Research Org.:

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP); National Institutes of Health (NIH)

OSTI Identifier:

2204143

Report Number(s):

BNL-224940-2023-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 0094-2405

Grant/Contract Number:  

SC0012704; R01EB026331; R01EB012965; R01HL135490

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Medical Physics

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 50; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-2405

Publisher:

American Association of Physicists in Medicine

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; SPECT; CZT; full-ring; Monte Carlo simulation; finite element method