| The Anger type scintillation nuclear camera is the most commonly used device in clinical radionuclide imaging. The objective of this investigation was the introduction of a new type of phantom for the purpose of evaluating certain performance parameters of the department's Elscint SP-4 gamma camera. A novel aluminum bar phantom was designed, built, and tested. The device was shown to be effective in measuring camera resolution, and uniformity. Phantoms have traditionally been constructed out of lead due to its high attenuation coefficient, but our results demonstrate the feasibility of using aluminum for the same purposes. Aluminum has the advantages of being non-toxic, relatively inexpensive, easy to machine, and copiously available in very high industrial standards. Using the phantom, the extrinsic spatial resolution of the instrument was shown to be between 3 and 6 mm. The uniformity was shown to be within the National Electrical Manufacturer's Association (NEMA) standards. Our work has established the feasibility of constructing a nuclear medicine phantom with aluminum for routine clinical use, and of measuring both uniformity and resolution simultaneously with this phantom. |
