Recent Developments of Solid State Detectors for Medical Imaging Applications

This paper reviewed some of the recent patents on the development of solid state detectors for medical imaging applications focused on nuclear medicine and X-Ray imaging systems. A series of solid state detectors including position sensitive avalanche photodiodes, APD arrays, silicon photomultipliers, amorphous silicon/selenium flat panel detectors, CCD cameras, CMOS sensors, etc., were addressed. These solid state detectors found wide applications in nuclear medicine imaging instruments including PET, SPECT etc., and in X-Ray medical imaging systems for diagnosis and therapy, including radiography, fluoroscopy, mammography, tomosynthesis, CT and dental imaging, etc. In addition, a discussion on some recently patented medical imaging systems employing solid state detectors was also presented.