What Is a Scintigraphy Camera?

A scintigraphy or gamma camera is any camera used for the purposes of scinigraphy, the process of examining a human body to create a visual representation of radioisotopes that are emitting gamma radiation. Scinigraphy cameras have a number of applications is medical science.

Process

In the scinigraphy process, the patient is injected with a small amount of radioactive materials. Some time elapses, and the scintigraphy camera moves along the patient's body, taking several images of the focus area.

Light Capture

The scinigraphy camera has a head containing flat planes of large crystal sodium iodide. When a gamma photon hits the crystal plane, it emits visible light.

Signal Conversion

Photomultipliers in the camera pick up this visible light and convert the light occurrences into electrical signals, which are used by a connected computer to make an image. The placement and brightness of light in the final image can be used to detect where the gamma radiation is in the patient's body.

Function

Scintigraphy can be used for specific medical tests, such as a thyroid scintigraphy used to observe vital information about the thyroid gland or thrombocythaemia tests to review a person's spleen. They can examine the performance of a recently implanted artificial body part such as the heart.

References

• FurryElephant: How Gamma Camera Works
• GE Healthcare: Scintigraphy
• MADScientist: Gamma Camera