Compact Endocavity Diagnostic Probes for Nuclear Radiation Detection

• US 20110286576A1
• Filed: 03/31/2011
• Published: 11/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hybridyne Imaging Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: James, Ralph, Bolotnikov, Aleksey, Cui, Yonggang
• Granted Patent: US 8,816,292 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 378/62
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/051 Details of CCD assembly
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/06 Diaphragms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4208 characterised by using a particular type of detector
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/425 using detectors specially adapted to be used in the interior of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4258 for detecting non x-ray radiation, e.g. gamma radiation A61B6/037 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4291 the detector being combined with a grid or grating
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4417 related to combined acquisition of different diagnostic modalities
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/48 Diagnostic techniques A61B6/022, A61B6/025 A61B6/032, A61B6/037 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/485 involving fluorescence X-ray imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/50 specially adapted for specific body parts; specially adapted for specific clinical applications
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/08 Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings A61B8/02 - A61B8/06 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0875 for diagnosis of bone A61B5/4504 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/12 in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters catheters per se A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/161 Applications in the field of nuclear medicine, e.g. in vivo counting apparatus for radiation diagnosis A61B6/00
• CPC Class Codes: G21K 1/025 using multiple collimators, e.g. Bucky screens; other devices for eliminating undesired or dispersed radiation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14618 Containers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14661 of the hybrid type
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00

Abstract

This invention relates to the field of radiation imaging. In particular, the invention relates to an apparatus and a method for imaging tissue or an inanimate object using a novel probe that has an integrated solid-state semiconductor detector and complete readout electronics circuitry.

Claims

1. A radiation imaging probe contained within a probe sheath, comprising:

a plurality of semiconductor detectors,

a signal processing circuitry attached to the plurality of the detector to read out and process the signal produced by the detectors due to an absorption of the radiation; and

a power supply and associated power supply circuits;

wherein the plurality of semiconductor detectors is operable to detect x-ray or gamma ray radiation.

2. The radiation imaging probe of claim 1, further comprising a collimator positions on top of the plurality of semiconductor detectors.

3. The radiation imaging probe of claim 1, wherein the sheath has a shape that is one of a cylinder, a rectangular prism, a rectangular prism with rounded edges, or a parallelepiped.

4. The radiation imaging probe of claim 1, wherein the sheath may be fabricated from a material that has low density and/or low atomic mass, the material absorbing little or no radiation in the spectral region of interest.

5. The radiation imaging probe of claim 4, wherein the sheath material comprises carbon, plastic, polycarbonate, aluminum, stainless steel, or a combination thereof.

6. The radiation imaging probe of claim 2, wherein the collimator and the plurality of semiconductor detectors are attached in the probe sheath near the tip facing the side of the sheath.

7. The radiation imaging probe of claim 6, wherein the plurality of semiconductor detectors detect radiation that passes through apertures in the collimator.

8. The radiation imaging probe of claim 2, wherein the collimator and the plurality of semiconductor detectors are attached in the probe sheath near the tip away from an open end of the probe sheath.

9. The radiation imaging probe of claim 1, wherein the plurality of semiconductor detectors is configured as a pixilated detector.

10. The radiation imaging probe of claim 1, wherein the plurality of semiconductor detectors is configured as an orthogonal strip detector.

11. The radiation imaging probe of claim 1, wherein the plurality of semiconductor detectors is configured in an array of individual detectors.

12. The radiation imaging probe of claim 11, wherein the array of individual detectors is a virtual Frisch-grid detector array.

13. The radiation imaging probe of claim 11, wherein the array of individual detectors is a planar detector array.

14. The radiation imaging probe of claim 1, wherein the semiconductor detector includes a semiconductor made from a compound of elements of groups III and V of the periodic table, a compound of elements of groups II and VI of the periodic table, or elements or alloys of group IV of the periodic table.

15. The radiation imaging probe of claim 14, where the semiconductor is a single element crystal.

16. The radiation imaging probe of claim 14, wherein the semiconductor is a binary compound.

17. The radiation imaging probe of claim 14, wherein the semiconductor is a ternary compound or alloy.

18. The radiation imaging probe of claim 14, wherein the semiconductor comprises CdZnTe, CdTe, CdMnTe, HgI₂, or TlBr.

19. The radiation imaging probe of claim 18, wherein the semiconductor is CdZnTe.

20. The radiation imaging probe of claim 2, wherein the collimator is fabricated of a radiation-absorbing material.

21. The radiation imaging probe of claim 20, wherein the radiation-absorbing material has a high density and moderate-to-high atomic mass.

22. The radiation imaging probe of claim 20, wherein radiation is incident on the collimator and the radiation-absorbing material is selected based on the type of incident radiation and the energy level of the radiation when it strikes a surface plane of the collimator.

23. The radiation imaging probe of claim 22, wherein the incident radiation is emitted by ¹²⁵I, ¹¹¹In, ^99mTc, ¹³¹I, or ¹⁰³Pd.

24. The radiation imaging probe of claim 22, wherein the incident radiation is emitted by an external radiation source or device that generates X-rays.

25. The radiation imaging probe of claim 20, wherein the radiation-absorbing material comprises lead, tungsten, gold, molybdenum, or copper.

26. The radiation imaging probe of claim 2, wherein the signal processing circuitry attached to the plurality of the detector includes a front-end electronics.

27. The radiation imaging probe of claim 26, wherein the front-end electronics is implemented as an application-specific integrated circuit or other circuits built up with commercial electronics components.

28. The radiation imaging probe of claim 26, wherein the front-end electronics are mounted side-by-side with the plurality of the detectors on the same side of a PCB.

29. The radiation imaging probe of claim 28, wherein the front-end electronics are mounted underneath the plurality of the detectors on the other side of the PCB.

30. The radiation imaging probe of claim 28, wherein the plurality of detectors, the collimator, the front-end electronics, and the control logic are placed on the same PCB.

31. The radiation imaging probe of claim 28, wherein the plurality of detectors, the collimator, the front-end electronics, and the control logic are placed on different PCBs.

32. The radiation imaging probe of claim 30, wherein the power circuitry is attached to the same PCB.

33. The radiation imaging probe of claim 30, wherein the power circuitry is attached to a different PCB.

34. The radiation imaging probe of claim 26, wherein the power circuitry is in a separate unit outside the probe sheath.

35. The radiation imaging probe of claim 1, wherein the front-end electronics is implemented as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and the plurality of radiation detectors is mounted directly on the ASIC.

36. The radiation imaging probe of claim 35, wherein connections between the semiconductor detector and ASIC use bump-bonding.

37. A method of radiation imaging comprising

a) defining a predetermined target location in an object of interest;

b) positioning a radiation imaging probe near the target location;

c) collimating radiation from the target location by a collimator in the field of view of said collimator; and

d) processing the information recorded by the radiation detection module to produce a desired image.

38. The method of radiation imaging according to claim 37, wherein the object of interest is a prostate gland.