摘要 |
A positron imaging system includes a pair of scintillation detectors for detecting a pair of gamma rays produced by annihilation of a positron within a distribution field, such as within a patient. An energy level determination circuit determines the energy levels of the detected gamma rays, and timing circuits determine whether the gamma rays have been detected by the scintillation detectors within a predetermined time interval. Only if the determined energy levels of each of the pair of gamma rays meet predetermined magnitude requirements and detection of the pair of gamma rays has occurred within the predetermined time interval, are signals corresponding to said gamma rays inputted to processing circuitry for calculating the spatial location of the positron. According to a further aspect of the invention, a circuit for separating piled-up gamma ray events includes a delay and a controllable attenuator for delaying and simultaneously attenuating a signal outputted by the detector, and a comparator for comparing the delayed signal with the attenuated signal, to thereby output separate electrical pulses representing the separate events.
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