Abstract
Abstract
This study is aimed at evaluating scintillating plastic
blocks with scintillation characteristics matching a highly
efficient charge-coupled device (CCD) for preclinical
nuclear/radioisotopic imaging. A composite layer formed with an
array of plastic blocks is operated as an image collection
device. The scintillating layer used four EJ 204 plastic
scintillators attached to a 3D-printed supporting piece made from
polylactic acid and made up by using an additive manufacturing
developing strategy. An image processing algorithm was developed in
MATLAB to characterize the response of the scintillation material
and to obtain the distribution of radioactive samples in
bi-dimensional images. To obtain functional images, a set of
correction techniques to reduce scattered radiation was implemented
in the collected images. By integrating the radiation detection
stage with a robotic rotation system, a three-dimensional
reconstruction of a murine model was obtained. The reconstructed
preclinical image was overlayed with an X-ray to obtain a
functional-anatomical visualization of the radio-pharmaceutical
99mTc-RGD in the studied murine model. The assessed polymeric
organic blocks are competitive to professional nuclear/radioisotopic
imaging scintillators considering the obtained temporal response and
the imaging captured information.