A Monte Carlo Simulation Study of Optimization for Collimator in a Pixelated SPECT Camera

To investigate the influence of collimator hole shape, size, and material on the performance of the high-resolution SPECT camera to find the optimal collimator design using the GEANT4 application for the tomographic emission Monte Carlo platform.

The geometry of the dual head camera equipped with a pixelated CsI(Na) crystal, lead hexagonal-hole collimator, and two flat-panel H8500 position-sensitive photomultipliers were accurately described in the GEANT4 application for the tomographic emission. The basic features of the scanner were calculated by using 2 mCi ^99mTc sources.

The simulated average spatial resolutions of lead hexagonal-, square-, and round-hole collimators were 2.68, 2.96, and 3.06 mm at 2.5 cm from the collimator surface, respectively. The sensitivity of the lead hexagonal-hole collimator was 10.86% and 18.84%, greater than that of the square and round holes, respectively, on the collimator surface. The measured averages of spatial resolution using gold were 16.14%, 11.39%, and 5.1% better than those of lead, tantalum, and tungsten hexagonal-hole collimators, respectively, at 2.5 cm from the collimator. The sensitivities of the tungsten, gold, tantalum, depleted uranium, and lead hexagonal-hole collimators were 0.74, 0.48, 1.127, 0.32, and 1.38 cps/μCi on the collimator surface, respectively.

The hexagonal-hole collimator was preferred over the square- and round-hole collimators because of the optimum sensitivity and spatial resolution offered by its regular arrangement of apertures. Also, the lower-absorption and stopping-power materials such as lead revealed relatively better characteristics at specific sensitivity, whereas higher-absorption materials such as gold showed the best spatial resolution. The collimator with finer hole size had the superior spatial resolution and less sensitivity than larger holes.