The gamma camera or SPECT camera is a camera that is able to detect scintillations (flashes of light) produced when gamma rays, resulting from radioactive decay of single photon emitting radioisotopes, interact with a sodium iodide crystal at the front of the camera.
This technique is known as Scintigraphy. Large crystal of sodium iodide is used to detect the gamma photons. Whenever gamma photon hits the crystal, it gives a tiny flash of visible light. Photomultipliers picked the gamma photons to convert the flash into an electrical signal. The computer then evaluates electrical signals from the photomultipliers to construct an image. It is a painless, minimally invasive way to obtain a complete image that is highly helpful in the treatment that follows.
The Gamma Camera will track the radioisotope in the area to be scanned and will measure how the part processes it. There are multiple types of diagnostic scans performed by the Gamma Camera. Here are few types of scans:
- Heart Scintigraphy
- Renal Scintigraphy
- Bone Scintigraphy
- Lung Scintigraphy
- Thyroid Scintigraphy
- Parathyroid Scintigraphy
- Biliary system (Cholescintigraphy)