Anamorphic Preclinical SPECT Imaging with High-Resolution Silicon Double-Sided Strip Detectors

Abstract

Preclinical single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is an essential tool for studying progression, response to treatment, and physiological changes in small animal models of human disease. The wide range of imaging applications is often limited by the static design of many preclinical SPECT systems. We have developed a prototype imaging system that replaces the standard static pinhole aperture with two sets of movable, keel-edged copper-tungsten blades configured as crossed (skewed) slits. These apertures can be positioned independently between the object and detector, producing an anamorphic image in which the axial and transaxial magnications are not constrained to be equal. We incorporated a 60 mm x 60 mm, millimeter-thick megapixel silicon double-sided strip detector that permits ultrahigh-resolution imaging. While the stopping power of silicon is low for many common clinical radioisotopes, its performance is sufficient in the range of 20-60 keV to allow practical imaging experiments. The low-energy emissions of ¹²⁵I fall within this energy window, and the 60-day half life provides an advantage for longitudinal studies. The flexible nature of this system allows the future application of adaptive imaging techniques. We have demonstrated ~225-μm axial and ~175-μm transaxial resolution across a 2.65 cm³ cylindrical field of view, as well as the capability for simultaneous multi-isotope acquisitions. We describe the key advancements that have made this system operational, including bringing up a new detector readout ASIC, development of detector control software and data-processing algorithms, and characterization of operating characteristics. We describe design and fabrication of the adjustable slit aperture platform, as well as the development of an accurate imaging forward model and its application in a novel geometric calibration technique and a GPU-based ultrahigh-resolution reconstruction code.