Introduction: In iodine-131 (I-131) imaging, the image quality is degraded by scatter and penetration in a collimator. In this work, we assessed the penetrated and the scattered photon fractions in the photopeak energy window using Monte Carlo Simulation code.
Materials and methods: The Siemens Medical System equipped with high-energy collimator was simulated. We evaluated the acceptance angle values on geometric, penetration, and scatter components in a separate file. Binary images in a data file are obtained and each one of them was imported in software ImageJ. Full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) and sensitivity were calculated and compared.
Results: The simulation data show that for the acceptance angle value equal to 4.845°, the geometric, scatter, and penetration components were 93.20%, 4.13%, and 2.67%, respectively. Moreover, the resolution is improved (FWHM = 7.21 mm, full width at tenth maximum = 12.36 mm) for a point source at 12 cm from the detector.
Conclusion: The small acceptance angle has a major impact on the image quality in I-131 single photon emission computed tomography.
Keywords: Acceptance angle; I-131; geometrical; penetration; scatter; simulation Monte Carlo imaging nuclear detector.