Abstract: A direct measurement system for proximity detection of a body profile for use within nuclear medicine. The measurement system includes two or three proximity detector units mounted on a gantry structure of a nuclear medicine camera which each emit an energy beam which is swept across a portion of a target body. Each detector is capable of directly measuring the distance from the proximity detector unit to the target body with a beam sample. The detectors then create a body profile of the target body which is used to minimize the distance between the collimator of a scanning camera and the target body surface thus improving image quality of the scanning camera. There is relative motion between the object and the gantry along a cranial-caudal axis of a target body for scanning successive body profiles. Successive body profiles are combined together to achieve a complete body contour of the target body.