Abstract: A radionuclide emission tomography camera for sensing gamma ray emissions from a source within the field of view, including: a fixed position-sensitive detector, responsive to the gamma ray emissions and surrounding the field of view, for detecting the contact position and the trajectory from which a gamma ray emission originates; a rotatable collimator disposed between the fixed position-sensitive detector and the field of view and including at least one array of collimator elements for restricting and collimating the gamma ray emissions; and means for rotating the collimator relative to the fixed position-sensitive detector for exposing different sections of the position-sensitive detector to the gamma ray emissions in order to view the source from different angles.

Abstract: A transaxial radionuclide emission camera apparatus and method for image reconstruction using data collected by the apparatus are disclosed. A significant feature of the camera apparatus is a detector means which is arcuately shaped. For example, a suitable detector means can be formed from an optically continuous, arcuately shaped strip of scintillation material and an array of photodetectors optically coupled to said scintillation material. These photodetectors sense light emitted by the scintillation material in response to absorbed radiation. Collimating means which converge to the center of an arc defined by the detector means are another significant feature. The transaxial camera apparatus and the method disclosed are useful in reconstructing images of the distribution of a source of penetrating radiation contained within a body.