Redlen is developing photon-counting detector technology using its own chips. The technology directly converts radiation into electrical signals. This allows for reduced radiation exposure during a scan.
Canon also aims to leverage its own image processing technology to reduce the amount of radiation exposure to one-tenth the current level. It intends to start clinical research in collaboration with Japan’s National Cancer Center as early as next year and is looking to commercialize the new generation CT scanners by 2025 and sell them at the same price as its current products.
I was surprised by this announcement for a niche industry that I had never heard of.
I found an old YouTube video here:
It should be interesting to watch. Can we envisage these detectors in radiation oncology machines to deliver better quality imaging? I’ll keep an eye on it.
I could find some reference for FDG-PET imaging:
This paper investigates the performance of 1 mm resolution cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detectors for positron emission tomography (PET) capable of positioning the 3D coordinates of individual 511 keV photon interactions. The detectors comprise 40 mm × 40 mm × 5 mm monolithic CZT crystals that employ a novel cross-strip readout with interspersed steering electrodes to obtain high spatial and energy resolution.
The study found a single anode FWHM energy resolution of 3.06 ± 0.39% at 511 keV throughout most of the detector volume. Improved resolution is expected with properly shielded front-end electronics. Measurements made using a collimated beam established the efficacy of the steering electrodes in facilitating enhanced charge collection across anodes, as well as a spatial resolution of 0.44 ± 0.07 mm in the direction orthogonal to the electrode planes.
Finally, measurements based on coincidence electronic collimation yielded a point spread function with 0.78 ± 0.10 mm FWHM, demonstrating 1 mm spatial resolution capability transverse to the anodes-as expected from the 1 mm anode pitch. These findings indicate that the CZT-based detector concept has excellent performance and shows great promise for a high-resolution PET system.
RadOncNotes 