Described herein are systems and methods for positioning a radiation source with respect to one or more regions of interest in a coordinate system. Such systems and methods may be used in emission guided radiation therapy (EGRT) for the localized delivery of radiation to one or more patient tumor regions. These systems comprise a gantry movable about a patient area, where a plurality of positron emission detectors, a radiation source are arranged movably on the gantry, and a controller. The controller is configured to identify a coincident positron annihilation emission path and to position the radiation source to apply a radiation beam along the identified emission path. The systems and methods described herein can be used alone or in conjunction with surgery, chemotherapy, and/or brachytherapy for the treatment of tumors.

A radiation measuring apparatus includes: a plurality of detector modules; and a processing unit. Each of the detector modules includes: a plurality of detectors; a plurality of analog signal processing sections, each of which is provided for a corresponding one of the plurality of detectors to carry out analog-digital conversion to an analog signal obtained from the corresponding detector to generate digital measurement data corresponding to the analog signal; and a digital processing section configured to transmit to the processing unit, digital communication data generated from the digital measurement data received from the plurality of analog signal processing sections. Each of the plurality of detectors is a scatterer detector functioning as a scatterer or an absorber detector functioning as an absorber. The processing unit generates a radiation source distribution image showing a spatial distribution of radiation sources based on the digital communication data received from the of detector modules.

Described herein are systems and methods for positioning a radiation source with respect to one or more regions of interest in a coordinate system. Such systems and methods may be used in emission guided radiation therapy (EGRT) for the localized delivery of radiation to one or more patient tumor regions. These systems comprise a gantry movable about a patient area, where a plurality of positron emission detectors, a radiation source are arranged movably on the gantry, and a controller. The controller is configured to identify a coincident positron annihilation emission path and to position the radiation source to apply a radiation beam along the identified emission path. The systems and methods described herein can be used alone or in conjunction with surgery, chemotherapy, and/or brachytherapy for the treatment of tumors.

A tool is provided that includes: a protractor base having a plurality of markings circumferentially spaced around a semicircular perimeter of the base; and a body pivotally coupled to the protractor base at a vertex thereof, the body having a pointer extending therefrom, a radiation source seat, and an aperture, the seat and aperture configured for the source to emit radiation directionally in-line with the pointer through the aperture.

The invention is a gamma ray detector that locates a source, both horizontally and vertically. The detector comprises a tubular shield surrounded by scintillator panels. Gammas incident from one side can fully strike the scintillator facing the source, but are blocked from reaching the scintillators on the opposite side of the shield. The scintillator counting rates thus indicate the lateral direction of the source. By iteratively rotating toward the highest-counting scintillator, the detector converges to the source. An additional, central detector can be mounted within the tubular shield. When analyzed with the outer scintillators, the central detector determines the overall angular separation between the source and the detector axis, thereby locating the source in two dimensions automatically. The invention enables rapid detection and precise localization of clandestine nuclear and radiological weapons, despite shielding and clutter obfuscation, while quickly passing clean loads.

Disclosed is a directional gamma ray or neutron detector that locates a source both horizontally and vertically. In some embodiments, the detector comprises four rod scintillators around a shield, and an orthogonal panel scintillator mounted frontward of the rod scintillators. The azimuthal angle of the source may be calculated according to the detection rates of the rod scintillators, while the polar angle of the source may be calculated from the panel scintillator rate using a predetermined angular correlation function. Thus, the exact location of the source can be found from a single data set without iterative rotations. Embodiments of the detector enable rapid detection and precise localization of clandestine nuclear and radiological weapons in applications ranging from hand-held survey meters and walk-through portals, to vehicle cargo inspection stations and mobile area scanners. Such detectors are needed to detect clandestine nuclear weapons worldwide.

A nuclear medicine examination apparatus is a nuclear medicine examination apparatus incorporating a Compton camera using gas amplification. The Compton camera has a chamber in which a gas is sealed. The nuclear medicine examination apparatus includes sensors that output signals each representing a gas state in the chamber and a controller that controls the gas state in the chamber on the basis of output signals from the sensors.

A radiation measuring apparatus (20) includes a scatterer detector (10A), an absorber detector (10B) and a processing unit (12). Pixel electrodes (2) of the scatterer detector (10A) and the absorber detector (10B) are arranged such that a distance between centers of two neighbor pixel electrodes (2) is smaller than a mean free path of a recoil electron generated in the Compton scattering of an electromagnetic radiation. The processing unit (12) specifies and incidence direction of the electromagnetic radiation based on a recoiling direction to which the recoil electron recoils. In this way, an electron tracking-type Compton camera is realized which confines the incidence direction of the electromagnetic radiation by using the recoiling direction of the recoil electron in a Compton camera using a semiconductor detector.

A nuclear medicine examination apparatus is a nuclear medicine examination apparatus incorporating a Compton camera using gas amplification. The Compton camera has a chamber in which a gas is sealed. The nuclear medicine examination apparatus includes sensors that output signals each representing a gas state in the chamber and a controller that controls the gas state in the chamber on the basis of output signals from the sensors.

A device for sensing, locating, and characterizing a radiation emitting source, including: a detection crystal having dimensions great enough such that regional differences in radiation response are generated in the detection crystal by radiation impinging on one or more surfaces of the detection crystal; and a plurality of detectors one or more of coupled to and disposed on a plurality of surfaces of the detection crystal operable for detecting the regional differences in radiation response generated in the detection crystal by the radiation impinging on the one or more surfaces of the detection crystal.