Noise analysis of scintillation camera images: stochastic and non-stochastic effects

An analysis of noise was performed on scintillation camera images. The analysis was performed on sets of field floods, uniform exposures over the field of view, in such a way that stochastic and non-stochastic effects were separable. Stochastic noise for the digitally acquired images was found to approach the limit of Poisson count statistics. The non-stochastic component of the calculations dominated the results at the lower spatial frequencies. These results hold true even after standard methods of uniformity correction are applied, primarily due to the effects of Compton scatter events. The noise power spectrum calculations carry information about the patterns of the noise in flood images. Examples of digitisation, photomultiplier tube mottle and edge-packing artefacts are presented.