Development of a high resolution gamma camera system using finely grooved GAGG scintillator

High resolution gamma cameras require small pixel scintillator blocks with high light output. However, manufacturing a small pixel scintillator block is difficult when the pixel size becomes small. To solve this limitation, we developed a high resolution gamma camera system using a finely grooved Ce-doped Gd3Al2Ga3O12 (GAGG) plate. Our gamma camera's detector consists of a 1-mm-thick finely grooved GAGG plate that is optically coupled to a 1-in. position sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT). The grooved GAGG plate has 0.2 x 0.2 mm pixels with 0.05-mm wide slits (between the pixels) that were manufactured using a dicing saw. We used a Hamamatsu PSPMT with a 1-in. square high quantum efficiency (HQE) PSPMT (R8900-100-C12). The energy resolution for the Co-57 gamma photons (122 keV) was 18.5% FWHM. The intrinsic spatial resolution was estimated to be 0.7-mm FVVHM. With a 0.5-mm diameter pinhole collimator mounted to its front, we achieved a high resolution, small field-of-view gamma camera. The system spatial resolution for the Co-57 gamma photons was 1.0-mm FWHM, and the sensitivity was 0.0025%, 10 mm from the collimator surface. The Tc-99m HMDP administered mouse images showed the fine structures of the mouse body's parts. Our developed high resolution small pixel GAGG gamma camera is promising for such small animal imaging. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.