Effects of asymmetric photopeak windows on flood field uniformity and spatial resolution of scintillation cameras.

Pulse height analyzer windows that are set on the high side of the photopeak are known to improve spatial resolution and contrast when used for scintillation camera imaging. Asymmetric windows can be used with some scintillation cameras that have energy correction circuitry. In this study the improvement in spatial resolution and loss of field uniformity for 99mTc, 201Tl, and 131I were measured as a function of window asymmetry (up to 30%, defined relative to the loss of counts as compared to a symmetric window under intrinsic conditions). Flood field uniformity was inversely related to the degree of window asymmetry. With 10 cm of scatter the 99mTc integral uniformity deteriorated from 7.9% with a symmetric window to 11.5% for a 30% asymmetric window. The corresponding values for 201Tl were 9.9 and 10.9%. Even without additional scatter, the values for 131I were 23.0 and 26.5%. Spatial resolution, as measured by the full width at half maximum in 10 cm of scatter improved by only 5% for 99mTc and 7% for 201Tl. However, the full width at tenth maximum increased by as much as 20% for 99mTc and 201Tl. A large percentage of this improvement was attained with small degrees of asymmetry. This study demonstrates that 10% or less asymmetry can provide most of the benefit in spatial resolution and contrast that is to be gained without significant losses in field uniformity and count rate.