[Simulation study of the influence of collimator defects on the uniformity of scintigraphic images]. / Etude en simulation de l'influence des défauts des collimateurs sur l'uniformité des images scintigraphiques.

The mechanical tolerances in building collimators for scintillation cameras are studied. A simulation method has been used to quantify the effects of defects in hole inclination and hole diameter on the uniformity of planar and tomographic images. The calculation takes into account the geometry of the hexagonal hole collimator, the camera intrinsic resolution, the object size, the pixel size, the effect of low-pass filtering, as well as the type, size and position of the defect. For instance, a 0.03 mm diameter defect on several holes located in the central region of a very high resolution collimator can result in a 12% uniformity artefact in tomographic imaging of an 18 cm diameter cylinder, using a 3.45 mm resolution camera, 4.5 mm pixel size, and Hamming filtering with a Nyquist frequency cut-off. A 0.17 degree inclination defect of a few holes can result in the same uniformity artefact. These results show that the building of a collimator has to be very precise.

[Characterization of the response of hexagonal parallel-hole collimators of scintillation cameras]. / Caractérisation de la réponse des collimateurs à trous parallèles hexagonaux des caméras à scintillation.

This paper presents a formulation of the frequency response of hexagonal parallel-hole collimator scintillation cameras. To describe this response, we propose an equation determined semi-empirically from a great number of simulations. The utility of the equation is that it enables the simple calculation of the response from collimator characteristics by taking into account the collimator's hexagonal structure. Because the equation does not assume translation invariance, the results can be directly compared with experimental measurements obtained with a point source. It is particularly interesting for collimators with large holes, like the medium-resolution ones used for high-energy radiation. Quality control and physical performance measurements are thus facilitated for this kind of collimator. Also, we present a new parameter that gives a quantitative assessment of the importance of partition penetration. This parameter is measured directly from the collimator frequency response. It has been studied by simulation, taking into account gamma photon attenuation in collimator partitions. The experimental measurements that have been made are in accord with the proposed equations.