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Investigation of SPECT/CT cardiac imaging using Geant4

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to propose a friendly computational framework able to investigate particles tracking through different compartments of the human being using dedicated numerical techniques. The main building blocks of this framework are: (i) convenient X-ray spectra calculator for different filter/anode combination, (ii) realistic voxelized computational human phantom, (iii) validated Geant4-based Monte Carlo simulation, and (iv) extendable and free image processing software. We studied the multimodality SPECT/CT cardiac imaging using specific spectrum of the \(^{99\text{m}}\)Tc and 120 kVp X-ray beam, for internal and external exposure, respectively. The application of the framework to quantify the loss of information between combined and simultaneous coregistration was carried out. Two main objectives were addressed: (i) an ideal geometry was simulated for educational purposes (ii) a realistic case study was carried out, for research purposes, concerning the modeling of the GE Infinia II 3/8″ Gamma Camera. We compared the effect of using a NaI(Tl) and CZT crystal detector, and a LEHR and MEGP collimator with different uptake values of the heart organ (1:1, 5:1 and 50:1) for both simultaneous and combined SPECT/CT images. We confirmed the usefulness of the NaI(Tl) crystal with the LEHR collimator for such kind of study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiological Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, PO Box 10219, Riyadh, 11433, Saudi Arabia

    A. Alfuraih, O. Kadri & K. Alzimami

  2. National Center for Nuclear Sciences and Technologies, 2020, Tunis, Tunisia

    O. Kadri

Authors
  1. A. Alfuraih
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  2. O. Kadri
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  3. K. Alzimami
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Correspondence to O. Kadri.

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Supported by the College of Applied Medical Sciences Research Centre and the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University of Saudi Arabia.

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Alfuraih, A., Kadri, O. & Alzimami, K. Investigation of SPECT/CT cardiac imaging using Geant4. NUCL SCI TECH 29, 105 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-018-0435-8

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