Data reducer for a scintillation camera

An apparatus for reducing data in the localization processing of scintillation events in a scintillation camera having a plurality of photomultiplier tubes arranged in rows and columns, the apparatus comprising:

• a first summing circuit for summing output signals from the photomuliplier tubes of each row to provide a summed row signal for each row;
• a second summing circuit for summing output signals from the photomultiplier tubes of each column to provide a summed column signal for each column;
• means for selecting a largest summed row signal and a largest summed column signal from the summed row and column signals;
• and
• means for selecting a subset of the plurality of photomultiplier tubes of which output signals are used for computing the location of a scintillation event, the subset of photomultiplier tubes comprising at least three photomultiplier tubes adjacent to both a row and a column corresponding to said largest summed row and column signals respectively, thereby reducing the amount of data to be processed for localizing scintillation events.