A third generation tomography system with fifteen detectors and a gamma-ray source in fan beam geometry simulated by Monte Carlo Method

Abstract

This paper describes the Monte Carlo simulation, using MCNP4C, of a multichannel third generation tomography system containing a two radioactive sources, 192I (316.5 – 468 KeV) and 137Cs (662 KeV), and a set of fifteen NaI(Tl) detectors, with dimensions of 1 inch diameter and 2 inches thick, in fan beam geometry, positioned diametrically opposite. Each detector moves 10 steps of 0,24o, totalizing 150 virtual detectors per projection, and then the system rotate 2 degrees. The Monte Carlo simulation was performed to evaluate the viability of this configuration. For this, a multiphase phantom containing polymethyl methacralate (PMMA ((  1.19 g/cm3)), iron ( 7.874 g/cm3), aluminum (  2.6989 g/cm3) and air (  1.20479E-03 g/cm3) was simulated. The simulated number of histories was 1.1E+09 per projection and the tally used were the F8, which gives the pulse height of each detector. The data obtained by the simulation was used to reconstruct the simulated phantom using the statistical iterative Maximum Likelihood Estimation Method Technique (ML-EM) algorithm. Each detector provides a gamma spectrum of the sources, and a pulse height analyzer (PHA) of 10% on the 316.5 KeV and 662 KeV photopeaks was performed. This technique provides two reconstructed images of the simulated phantom. The reconstructed images provided high spatial resolution, and it is supposed that the temporal resolution (spending time for one complete revolution) is about 2.5 hours.