First results from a YAP:Ce gamma camera for small animal studies

The YAP (yttrium aluminum perovskite) camera is a novel gamma camera with intrinsic submillimeter spatial resolution and detection efficiency comparable to a standard Anger camera. At the first stage, it is a miniature gamma camera with a field of view of 4/spl times/4 cm/sup 2/ and is currently utilized for radio tracer studies on small animals. The YAP camera consists of a multicrystal array coupled to a position sensitive photomultiplier tube (Hamamatsu R2486) with a parallel hole collimator. The preliminary results are presented and discussed, in particular the intrinsic characteristics of the scintillating array, which are measured, as well as the position linearity and the spatial resolution, with a parallel collimator. Images were obtained from /sup 99m/Tc line source and nude Balb C mice, which have been injected with /sup 99m/Tc MDP, a bone-seeking agent. The observed images show the importance of the small-field YAP camera in radiopharmaceutical research.