The Unicon, A Universal Nuclear Imaging Construct

Abstract

A multipurpose nuclear imaging system is under development at Brookhaven National Laboratory, featuring two large field of view scintillation cameras on a rotating gantry. The system can image single photon as well as positron emitting nuclide distributions. The energy of all events in a wide range (approximately 50 KeV to 1 MeV) can be digitized for event by event (list mode) acquisition. This allows distributions of multiple isotopes to be imaged simultaneously, or optimization of sensitivity for single isotopes by weighting of off-peak events. In static mode the detectors can be mounted with seven pinhole collimators with perpendicular axes to permit dynamic analysis such as T1-201 uptake in the myocardium. An important aspect of the UNICON is the data processing system, including a PDP 11/34 with image display system, and a VAX 11/780 with an array processor for image processing.© (1982) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.