The development of small field of view (SFOV) gamma cameras for intraoperative imaging is an expanding area of research. The Hybrid Compact Gamma Camera (HCGC) combines gamma and optical imaging in a co-aligned configuration to provide high spatial resolution imaging for bedside and surgical procedures [1].    The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of the HCGC following the experimental protocols developed by the Institute of Physics and Engineering in...

  The Hybrid Compact Gamma Camera (HCGC) is a new technology, developed in the Space Research Centre, University of Leicester in collaboration with Nottingham University Hospitals, for hybrid gamma-optical imaging (figure 1).   A performance characterisation of the HCGC has been completed using 600µm and 1500µm CsI(TI) scintillators.       Intrinsic spatial resolution   To measure the intrinsic spatial resolution a 10mm thick lead block with a slit of 2mm width...

  Table 1 contains the measured performance characteristics for the intrinsic spatial resolution of the HCGC with both CsI(TI) scintillators 600µm and 1500µm.       Table 2 contains the measured performance characteristics for the system spatial resolution of the HCGC with both CsI(TI) scintillators 600µm and 1500µm.       Table 3 contains the theoretical and the experimental performance characteristics for the system sensitivity of the HCGC with both...

  The measured characteristics of the HCGC indicate that it may have advantages for use in a range of healthcare applications such as small organ imaging and surgical investigation. These studies encourage us to carry out further evaluation in preparation for clinical use.  The results indicate that there is a small degradation of spatial resolution by using a thick scintillator i.e 1500µm. However, the system sensitivity can be doubled. That means the thicker scintillator can...

Layal Jambi   Bioimaging Unit, Space Research Centre, Department of Physics & Astronomy University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK   t: +44(0)116 229 7704 e: Lj97@le.ac.uk w: www.le.ac.uk  

[1] Lees, J.E., S.L. Bugby, B.S. Bhatia, L.K. Jambi, M.S. Alqahtani, W.R. McKnight, A.H. Ng, and A.C. Perkins, A small field of view camera for hybrid gamma and optical imaging. Journal of Instrumentation, 2014. 9(12): p.C12020-C12020.    [2] Bhatia, B.S., S.L. Bugby, J.E. Lees, and A.C. Perkins, A scheme for assessing the performance characersitics of small field-of-view gamma cameras. Phys Med, 2015. 31(1): p.98-103.