A radio-guided surgery technique exploiting β− emitters is under development. It aims at a higher target-to-background activity ratio implying both a smaller radiopharmaceutical activity and the possibility of extending the technique to cases with a large uptake of surrounding healthy organs. Such technique requires a dedicated intraoperative probe detecting β− radiation. A first prototype has been developed relying on the low density and high light yield of the diphenylbutadiene doped para-therphenyl organic scintillator. The scintillation light produced in a cylindrical crystal, 5 mm in diameter and 3 mm in height, is guided to a photo-multiplier tube by optical fibres. The custom readout electronics is designed to optimize its usage in terms of feedback to the surgeon, portability and remote monitoring of the signal. Tests show that with a radiotracer activity comparable to those administered for diagnostic purposes the developed probe can detect a 0.1 ml cancerous residual of meningioma in a few seconds.
@article{arxiv.1511.02640,
title = {Polycrystalline para-terphenyl scintillator adopted in a $\beta^-$ detecting probe for radio-guided surgery},
author = {Elena Solfaroli Camillocci and Fabio Bellini and Valerio Bocci and Francesco Collamati and Erika De Lucia and Riccardo Faccini and Michela Marafini and Ilaria Mattei and Silvio Morganti and Riccardo Paramatti and Vincenzo Patera and Davide Pinci and Luigi Recchia and Andrea Russomando and Alessio Sarti and Adalberto Sciubba and Martina Senzacqua and Cecilia Voena},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1511.02640},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Presented at conference: Applications of Novel Scintillators for Research and Industry (ANSRI 2015)