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Instrumentation

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Nuclear Oncology

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Abstract

The underlying principles of Nuclear Medicine imaging involve the use of unsealed sources of radioactivity in the form of radiopharmaceuticals. The ionizing radiations which accompany the decay of the administered radioactivity can be quantitatively detected, measured, and imaged in vivo with instruments such as gamma cameras. Radiation detectors used in Nuclear Medicine are generally characterized as either scintillation or ionization detectors. In scintillation detectors, visible light is produced as radiation excites atoms of a crystal and is converted to an electronic signal, or pulse, and amplified by a photomultiplier tube (PMT). In ionization detectors, free electrons produced when radiation ionizes a stopping material are collected to produce a small electronic signal. This paper reviews the design and operating principles as well as the capabilities and limitations of instruments used clinically for in vivo radionuclide imaging. These include gamma cameras, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scanners, and positron emission tomography (PET) scanners.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Memorial Hospital Research Laboratories, Department of Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY, 10021, USA

    Pat Zanzonico PhD

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  1. Pat Zanzonico PhD
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Correspondence to Pat Zanzonico PhD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Radiology, Div. Nuclear Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, York Ave. 1275, New York, 10021, New York, USA

    H. William Strauss

  2. Centro Regionale di Medicina Nucleare, Universita di Pisa, Via Roma 67, Pisa, 56100, Italy

    Giuliano Mariani

  3. Centro Regionale di Medicina Nucleare, Universita di Pisa, Via Roma 67, Pisa, 56100, Italy

    Duccio Volterrani

  4. Cancer Center, Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, York Ave. 1275, New York, 10021, New York, USA

    Steven M. Larson

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© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Zanzonico, P. (2013). Instrumentation. In: Strauss, H., Mariani, G., Volterrani, D., Larson, S. (eds) Nuclear Oncology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-48894-3_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-48894-3_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-48893-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-48894-3

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