Medical Applications of Radiation Detectors IV

The recent development of new radiation detector materials has resulted in great interest in rethinking the design of biomedical imaging systems that make use of gamma-rays or x-rays. Pixellated semiconductor detector arrays of such materials as CdTe or CdZnTe (CZT) hold great promise for improving both the spatial resolution and the energy resolution of imaging detectors; semiconductor detectors are now being incorporated into both clinical nuclear medicine cameras and commercial small-animal imaging systems. Meanwhile, new scintillators, such as the lanthanide halides and SrI2, have been identified that have high light yield, fast response and improved energy resolution. These new scintillators also have the potential to replace NaI(Tl) or LSO in conventional imaging systems. Continuing research into the new scintillators is driven by the need for better detectors for Positron Emission Tomography (PET), but applications in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) are also contemplated. Parallel improvements in scintillation light detectors such as: better multi-anode PMTs with better quantum efficiency and more pixels, avalanche photodiode arrays, image intensifiers used with CCD cameras and SSPMs, should encourage the development of a new generation of compact imaging systems for biomedicine. Improvements in electronic readout circuits have similarly driven the development of ever larger semiconductor-detector pixel arrays to the point where applications in digital radiography may soon be practical. The novel properties of the new detector materials and readout technologies can also make possible new types of multimodality imaging systems. This conference is intended to be of interest to a broad range of researchers, from those developing new detectors that might have medical applications, to those developing medical imaging systems, or testing them in the clinic, to those just interested in what medical imaging possibilities are on the horizon.