A high-resolution CdTe imaging detector with multi-pinhole optics for in-vivo molecular imaging

Abstract

High-resolution CdTe semiconductor detectors with both fine position resolution and high energy resolution hold great promise to improve measurement in various hard X-ray and gamma-ray imaging experiments. In the field of in-vivo molecular imaging, where the molecules labeled with radioisotopes are injected into a small animal and their distribution in a body is detected by gamma-ray imaging detectors externally, a large detection area is also required to obtain a number of projections from multiple pinholes. We have developed a prototype imaging system consisting of a 32 mm-wide CdTe double-sided strip detector equipped with multi-pinhole optics. We describe its imaging capability, as studied through experiments with radioisotopes for medical use (125I and 111In) and a 3D phantom.