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Intraoperative beta probe: A device for detecting tissue labeled with positron or electron emitting isotopes during surgery
Author(s) -
Daghighian Farhad,
Mazziotta John C.,
Hoffman Edward J.,
Shenderov Peter,
Eshaghian Behzad,
Siegel Stefan,
Phelps Michael E.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.597240
Subject(s) - nuclear medicine , imaging phantom , positron , physics , detector , scintillation , gamma ray , positron emission tomography , particle detector , beta particle , scintillation counter , photon , optics , electron , nuclear physics , medicine
An intraoperative beta probe was designed, built, and tested for detection of radio‐labeled malignant tissues that has the advantage of being selectively sensitive to beta while insensitive to gamma radiation. Since beta radiation (electrons or positrons) has a short range in tissue, this probe is ideal for detecting tracers in tumors at the surface of the surgical field. This probe contains a plastic scintillation detector sensitive to beta rays and to a lesser degree some background gamma rays. A second detector counts spurious gamma rays and allows for their subtraction from the activity measured by the first detector. Sensitivity of the dual probe for I‐131 and F‐18 was measured to be 108 counts/s/kBq (4000 counts/s/μCi). The dual‐detector probe faithfully measured the 10:1 “tumor” to background ratio of radioactivity concentrations in a simulated environment of a tumor in the presence of intense background 511 keV photons. In another phantom experiment, simulating abdominal tumor deposits with various realistic I‐131 radioactive concentrations, the probe was able to accurately identify tumors of approximately 50 mg with a tumor/normal radioactivity concentration of 3/1 in 10 s.