Design and application of Mark IV scanning system for radionuclide computed tomography of the brain

The MARK IV system was built in our laboratory to provide fast and accurate radionuclide computed tomography (RCT). It is designed primarily for detecting commonly available radioactive labels such as 99Tcsup(m), but it is also adapted to detecting positron emitters such as 18F. The system has interlaced convergent collimation in a four-sided arrangement of 32 independent detectors which continuously rotate as a unit, detecting, processing and displaying the reconstructed data while the study progresses. During the scanning procedure, accumulated data are transferred to a digital computer for reconstruction processing. Data are corrected to equalize detector response and compensate for photon attenuation in the head. This program requires 30 seconds for completion, whereupon the final reconstruction, a 64 x 64 matrix from the single revolution, outputs to a core store and is displayed on the screen of a cathode-ray tube. As the rotation sequence continues, new data from each revolution are added to previous data and reprocessed for a new picture. Since the instrument operates at 50 s per revolution, the continuous collection and processing of data causes a new picture to appear on the display every 50 s as the study progresses. The operator may extend or curtail the duration of the examination according to the appearance of the picture. In practice, a five revolution (4.2 min.) scan is commonly used in most clinical studies. The instrument is a high sensitivity device with approximately uniform resolution (1.7 cm FWHM) throughout the section plane. Quantification of concentration of radioactivity in small regions is accurate and reproducible. The instrument has been applied to the study of alterations in cerebral vascular permeability, blood flow and blood volume, and to the study of cerebral glucose metabolism and cerebral spinal fluid distribution. (author)