“Applications of the HICAM Gamma Camera”

The goal of the HICAM project, supported by the European Community, is the development of a new Anger camera for clinical and research environments and specific applications where high overall spatial resolution and system compactness are required. The camera is based on a matrix of Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) coupled to a CsI(Tl) crystal. Two prototypes were developed during the project, with 5x5 cm2 and 10x10 cm2 FOV. They provide a high intrinsic spatial resolution (<1mm), an overall spatial resolution of ~ 2.67 mm @ 4cm and appropriate sensitivity. The developed camera is compact, very versatile and has a potential to be employed in several imaging applications, for clinical studies on humans, for small organs imaging in adults and infants, or being incorporated in systems for both planar and SPECT acquisition for small animals studies. In this paper we will describe the most significant results obtained so far with this new camera employed in several applications.