Techniques for producing an image of radioactive emissions using a compton camera and compton lines

A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform:

• receiving data indicating a set of one or more known positions in a target volume of a subject, wherein the known positions are associated with a high energy particle source;
• collecting from each of a plurality of detectors in one or more stages of a Compton camera within a coincidence time interval, location and deposited energy from an interaction associated with a single source event from a target volume of a subject;
• determining for the single source event a cone of possible locations for the source event based on the locations and deposited energies collected from the plurality of detectors in one or more stages of the Compton camera;
• determining whether the cone of possible locations for the source event is not within a threshold distance of a closest one of the one or more known positions;
• determining a particular location for the high energy particle source within the target volume without including the single source event, if the cone is not within the threshold distance;
• and
• presenting, on a display device, data indicating the particular location in the target volume,
• wherein the threshold distance is determined by:
• determining a quality of a solution for positions of the high energy particle source for each of a plurality of trial distances as the threshold distance;
• and
• selecting one of the plurality of trial distances for which the determined quality is the highest.

A system comprising:

• a Compton camera comprising a plurality of detectors in one or more stages, each stage comprising an array of detectors for a high energy particle;
• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory including one or more sequences of instructions,
• the at least one memory and the one or more sequences of instructions configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the system to perform at least the steps of:
• receiving data indicating a set of one or more known positions in a target volume of a subject, wherein the known positions are associated with a high energy particle source;
• collecting from each of a plurality of detectors in one or more stages of a Compton camera within a coincidence time interval, location and deposited energy from an interaction associated with a single source event from a target volume of a subject;
• determining for the single source event a cone of possible locations for the source event based on the locations and deposited energies collected from the plurality of detectors in one or more stages of the Compton camera;
• determining whether the cone of possible locations for the source event is not within a threshold distance of a closest one of the one or more known positions;
• determining a particular location for the high energy particle source within the target volume without including the single source event, if the cone is not within the threshold distance;
• and
• presenting, on a display device, data indicating the particular location in the target volume,
• wherein the threshold distance is determined by:
• determining a quality of a solution for positions of the high energy particle source for each of a plurality of trial distances as the threshold distance;
• and
• selecting one of the plurality of trial distances for which the determined quality is the highest.