Comparison of a pixelated semiconductor detector and a non-pixelated scintillation detector in pinhole SPECT system for small animal study

Objective The aim of this work was to evaluate a pixelated semiconductor detector and non-pixelated scintillation detector in a pinhole SPECT system for small animal imaging. Methods We assumed two pixelated CdTe semiconductor detectors (a monolithic type and a modular type) and two non-pixelated NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors (a conventional type and a large detector field type). For the monolithic semiconductor detector we assumed that the size of a pixel was 1.0 9 1.0 mm2, the thickness 1 mm, and an effective detector field 128 9 128 mm2. For the modulartype semiconductor detector we assumed that the size of a pixel was 2.5 9 2.5 mm2, the thickness 5 mm, and an effective detector field 320 9 320 mm2. For the two scintillation detectors we assumed that the size of a pixel was 1.4 9 1.4 mm2 and the intrinsic spatial resolution 4.0 mm FWHM, and the thickness 9 mm. For the conventional scintillation detector we assumed that the effective detector field was 179.2 9 179.2 mm2, and for the large field scintillation detector 358.2 9 358.2 mm2 and the magnification factor two. In the simulation we used a pinhole collimator with a pinhole size of 0.3 mm. We reconstructed SPECT images of hot-rod and cold-channel phantoms with projection data calculated with a Monte Carlo method assuming a fixed data acquisition time, and evaluated the image quality with respect to contrast and spatial resolution. In addition, we calculated the scatter fraction to compare the amount of scattered photons between the pixelated and non-pixelated detectors. Results The image quality of the modular-type pixelated detector was similar to that of the non-pixelated detector operated with a twofold magnified data acquisition. The scattered photons and the parallax effect in the pixelated detector were small and similar to those in the nonpixelated detector. Conclusions The performance of a modular-type pixelated semiconductor detector was almost the same as that of a non-pixelated scintillation detector with a magnified data acquisition in a small animal pinhole SPECT system.