Overview of Nuclear Medical Imaging Instrumentation and Techniques*

Nuclear medical imaging is a well established method for obtaining information on the status of certain organs within the human body or in animals. This paper presents an overview of two commonly used methods, namely SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) and PET (positron emission tomography), as well as the emerging method of intraoperative probes with imaging capability. The discussion concentrates on the instrumentation requirements for these systems and on the potential for incorporating scintillating, wavelengthshifting, and fiber optic light guides into them.