| 摘要 |
The present invention relates to a multimodal imaging apparatus (1a, 1b) for imaging a process (63) in a subject (23), said process (63) causing the emission of gamma quanta (25, 61), said apparatus (1a, 1b) comprising a scintillator (3) including scintillator elements (31) for capturing incident gamma quanta (25, 61) generated by the radiotracer and for emitting scintillation photons (26) in response to said captured gamma quanta (25, 61), a photodetector (5) including photosensitive elements (33) for capturing the emitted scintillation photons (26) and for determining a spatial distribution of the scintillation photons, and a readout electronics (7) for determining the impact position of an incident gamma quantum in the scintillator (3) and/or a parameter indicative of the emission point of the gamma quantum (25, 61) in the subject (23) based on the spatial distribution of the scintillation photons, wherein the imaging apparatus (1a, 1b) is configured to be switched between a first operation mode for detecting low energy gamma quanta and a second operation mode for detecting high energy gamma quanta, wherein the high energy gamma quanta have a higher energy than the low energy gamma quanta, and the scintillator (3) is arranged to capture incident gamma quanta (25, 61) from the same area of interest (65) in the first operation mode and in the second operation mode without requiring a relative movement of the subject (23) versus the scintillator (3), wherein the scintillator (3) comprises an array of scintillator elements (31) including a first region with high energy scintillator elements (27) for capturing high energy gamma quanta and a second region with low energy scintillator elements (29) for capturing low energy gamma quanta; and/or the apparatus (1a, 1b) further comprises a positioning mechanism (35) for changing the orientation and/or position of the scintillator elements (31), in particular for tilting the scintillator elements (31), to switch the imaging apparatus (1a, 1b) between the first operation mode and the second operation mode. |
| 主权项 |
1. Multimodal imaging apparatus for imaging a radiotracer distribution within a subject, said apparatus comprising
a scintillator including scintillator elements for capturing incident gamma quanta generated by the radiotracer and for emitting scintillation photons in response to said captured gamma quanta; a photodetector including photosensitive elements for capturing the emitted scintillation photons and for determining a spatial distribution of the scintillation photons; and a readout electronics for determining the impact position of an incident gamma quantum in the scintillator and/or a parameter indicative of the emission point of the gamma quantum in the subject based on the spatial distribution of the scintillation photons, wherein the imaging apparatus is configured to be switched between a first operation mode for detecting low energy gamma quanta and a second operation mode for detecting high energy gamma quanta, wherein the high energy gamma quanta have a higher energy than the low energy gamma quanta; and the scintillator is arranged to capture incident gamma quanta from the same area of interest in the first operation mode and in the second operation mode without requiring a relative movement of the subject versus the scintillator; wherein the scintillator comprises an array of scintillator elements including a first region with high energy scintillator elements for capturing high energy gamma quanta and a second region with low energy scintillator elements for capturing low energy gamma quanta; and/or the apparatus further comprises a positioning mechanism for changing the orientation and/or position of the scintillator elements, in particular for tilting the scintillator elements, to switch the imaging apparatus between the first operation mode and the second operation mode. |
