Cadmium telluride matrix gamma camera.

An experimental gamma camera that has significant performance has been designed, constructed, and tested. The new camera has a matrix of cadmium telluride semiconductors as the detecting medium. The detectors are located within the collimating holes (rather than behind them). Coincident outputs from each row and column are used to digitally identify the individual detector in which the energy deposition occurred. Direct digital localization of detected events and the attenuation of scatter radiation between matrix elements by the collimator septa that separate detectors, contribute to reasonable resolution and imaging time. The superior radiation detection characteristics of cadmium telluride (in comparison to sodium iodide) could provide superior discrimination against scattered radiation that contributes only spurious information to the image. Detector reliability and uniformity limit the camera's performance; however, the availability of large numbers of small cadmium telluride detectors that have uniform radiation detection properties would make a clinical camera viable.