Assessment of SPECT Systems Using Multiple Detector Technologies

Conventional SPECT systems, either rotating or stationary, are typically outfitted with a single type of detectors. The use of identical detectors simplifies design and reconstruction in these systems. However, when a single detector technology is used, all detectors suffer the same limitations, and image quality can only be improved through additional angular sampling, better collimation, or more optimal injection protocols. In this paper, we analyze the concept of utilizing two or more detector technologies during the same acquisition, and the potential impact on image quality of exploiting the benefits of each respective technology. There is always a tradeoff in designs between energy resolution, spatial resolution, sensitivity and count rate. A combination of SPECT technologies in a single system could reduce these limitations for a desired application. We have modeled a SPECT system with multiple detector technologies to compare it to systems with a single SPECT technology, but the same number of detectors. An analysis framework has been developed to explore the fundamental gains in performance that can be achieved when using multiple technologies and to study the implementation of image reconstruction with these datasets.