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Published on: January 30, 2020
The electromagnetic interference of mobile phones on the function of a γ-camera
Hamid Javadi1, Zahra Azizmohammadi, Ali Mahmoud Pashazadeh
1From the *Golestan Research Center of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan; †Department of Nuclear Medicine, Taleghani Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran; and ‡The Persian Gulf Nuclear Medicine Research Center, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran; and §Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV.
Purpose:
The aim of the present study is to evaluate whether or not the electromagnetic field generated by mobile phones interferes with the function of a SPECT γ-camera during data acquisition.
Methods:
We tested the effects of 7 models of mobile phones on 1 SPECT γ-camera. The mobile phones were tested when making a call, in ringing mode, and in standby mode. The γ-camera function was assessed during data acquisition from a planar source and a point source of Tc with activities of 10 mCi and 3 mCi, respectively. A significant visual decrease in count number was considered to be electromagnetic interference (EMI).
Results:
The percentage of induced EMI with the γ-camera per mobile phone was in the range of 0% to 100%. The incidence of EMI was mainly observed in the first seconds of ringing and then mitigated in the following frames.
Conclusions:
Mobile phones are portable sources of electromagnetic radiation, and there is interference potential with the function of SPECT γ-cameras leading to adverse effects on the quality of the acquired images.
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