High resolution medical imaging system for 3-D imaging of radioactive sources with 1 mm FWHM spatial resolution

This paper describes a modification of a new imaging system developed at Argonne National Laboratory that has the potential of achieving a spatial resolution of 1 mm FWHM. The imaging system uses a crystal diffraction lens to focus gamma rays from the radioactive source. The medical imaging application of this system would be to detect small amounts of radioactivity in the human body that would be associated with cancer. The best spatial resolution obtained with the present lens at the time of the presentation made at the Medical Imaging Symposium 2001, was 6.7 mm FWHM for a 1-mm-diameter source. Since then it has been possible to improve the spacial resolution of the lens system to 3 mm FWHM. Experiments with the original lens system have led to a new design for a lens system that could have a spacial resolution of I mm FWHM. This is accomplished by: one, reducing the radial dimension of the crystals, and two, by replacing the small individual crystals with bent strips of single-crystalline material. Experiments are under way to test this approach.