An applicable count rate saturation correction approach on gamma camera for I-131 labeled radiopharmaceuticals

Background: Gamma camera count rate saturation and high-rate dead time are the most important problems of quantitative measurement in dosimetric studies. In this study, we aimed to assess an algorithm for correction of the measured counting rates in the entire energy spectrum (327-400 keV) for camera dead-time effects. Methods: In our study, whole body (WB) scan was performed by using a tissue-equivalent phantom, and that the radioactive Iodine (I-131) source with activities of 0.3, 0.6, 1.2, 1.5, 2.07, 2.7, 3.7, and 5.55 GBq was applied. WB scans of the 20% width energy windows were acquired for 420 s. Results: Camera dead-time parameters were obtained from different activities of I-131 in a tissue-equivalent thyroid Phantom, then the saturation curve and coefficients alpha and beta were obtained by using those parameters. Conclusions: We concluded that in high-administered activity, it is possible to determine actual count rate of the system in saturation areas. Operation and accuracy of our gamma camera were determined for high activities of iodine-131, which can contribute to various applications of dosimetry in different fields.