DUAL-PURPOSE RADIATION TRANSMISSION SOURCE FOR NUCLEAR MEDICINE IMAGING SYSTEM

摘要

A dual-purpose transmission source for use in a nuclear medicine imaging system is described. A Cs-137 point source (16) is used to transmit radiation having a 662 keV photopeak to a corresponding detector (10) during a transmission scan of an object. The Cs-137 source (16) can be used in transmission scans for non-uniform attenuation. When performing a transmission scan to correct single-photon emission data, a collimator (82) may remain mounted to the detector (10), since a substantial portion of the transmitted radiation (83) completely penetrates the radiation-absorbing material (81) of the collimator (82) to reach the detector (10).