Two-Gamma Cascade Emission Tomography as an Alternative to Pet Imaging

Abstract

A two-gamma cascade subsequent to a β⁻ decay offers a promise of better medical imaging alternate to PET. It is free from the aberrations due to positron motion in the medium, it originates from the decay point of the nucleus, and it is a direct measure of isotope distribution in the body. A judicious choice of cascade can enhance the non-collinear angular correlations, which enables the reconstruction of decay vertex without resorting to the time of flight measurements. Gamma cascades from the de-excitation of 990 keV level in the ⁴³K ^β−→ ⁴³Ca decay are an illustrative example.