A new nuclear medicine scintillation camera based on image-intensifier tubes.

A large-field scintilation camera for nuclear medicine application has recently been developed by Old Delft. The system is based on a large-field image-intensifier tube preceded by a scintillator mosaic. A comparison is made with present state-of-the-art scintillation cameras in terms of modulation transfer function (MTF) and sensitivity. These parameters, which determine the performance of scintillation cameras, are not independent of each other. Therefore, a comparative evaluation should be made under well-defined and identical conditions. The new scintillation camera achieves considerable improvement in image quality. In fact, the intrinsic MTF of the new camera is rather close to unity in the spatial frequency range up to 1 line pair per centimeter (1p/cm). Further improvement would require a fundamentally new approach to gamma imaging, free of the limitations of conventional collimators (e.g., coded-aperture imaging techniques).