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US 11,231,508 B2Granted
Gamma camera dead time determination in real time using long lived radioisotopes
AssigneeSiemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.
InventorManojeet Bhattacharya
Life of this patent
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Abstract
For dead time determination for a gamma camera or other detector, a long-lived point source of emissions is positioned so that the gamma camera detects the emissions from the source while also being used to detect emissions from the patient. The long-lived point source, in the scan time, acts as a fixed frequency source of emissions, allowing for dead time correction measurements that include the crystal detector effects.
Claims7
A method for dead time determination for a gamma camera, the method comprising:
- detecting, with the gamma camera, a count rate from a radioisotope source connected adjacent to the gamma camera, the gamma camera configured to detect the count rate at a first energy range;
- detecting, with the gamma camera, emissions from within a patient while detecting the count rate, a radioisotope of the radioisotope source being different than any source of the emissions from within the patient, the radioisotope having a greater half-life by a factor of at least ten than a radiotracer generating the emissions from within the patient such that the count rate has a constant known rate, the gamma camera configured to detect the emissions at a second energy range different from and not overlapping with the first energy range;
- determining the dead time from the count rate;
- and
- correcting a count of the emissions as a function of the dead time,
- wherein detecting the count rate comprises detecting with the radioisotope source comprising a shielded source having a window in the shielding directed to allow gamma rays to impinge only upon the gamma camera, the shielded source directly connected to a collimator of the gamma camera or the gamma camera.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.