| In response to the shortcomings of the Anger camera currently being used in conventional SPECT, particularly the trade-off between sensitivity and spatial resolution, a novel energy-subtraction Compton scatter camera, or the ESCSC, has been proposed. A successful clinical implementation of the ESCSC could revolutionize the field of SPECT. Features of this camera include utilization of silicon and CdZnTe detectors in primary and secondary detector systems, list-mode time stamping data acquisition, modular architecture, and post-acquisition data analysis. Previous ESCSC studies were based on Monte Carlo modeling. The objective of this work is to test the theoretical framework developed in previous studies by developing the data acquisition and analysis techniques necessary to implement the ESCSC. The camera model working in list-mode with time stamping was successfully built and tested thus confirming potential of the ESCSC that was predicted in previous simulation studies. The obtained data were processed during the post-acquisition data analysis based on preferred event selection criteria. Along with the construction of a camera model and proving the approach, the post-acquisition data analysis was further extended to include preferred event weighting based on the likelihood of a preferred event to be a true preferred event. While formulated to show ESCSC capabilities, the results of this study are important for any Compton scatter camera implementation as well as for coincidence data acquisition systems in general. |
