STEREOTACTIC MBI-GUIDED BIOPSY USING A VARIABLE-ANGLE SLANT-HOLE COLLIMATOR

A molecular imaging method for guidance in biopsy or surgical procedures includes selecting and inputting two different slant angles for stereotactic molecular imaging of a hot spot, positioning a patient to whom a radiotracer has been administered in a molecular imaging system including a solid-state gamma camera and a variable-angle square hole (VASH) collimator, acquiring two stereotactic molecular images with the VASH collimator, each of the two stereotactic molecular images being acquired when the VASH collimator is adjusted to a different one of the two different slant angles, calculating a 3D position of a hot spot, and performing a molecular image-guided biopsy procedure on the basis of the calculated 3D position. In acquiring the two stereotactic molecular images, the VASH collimator is positioned such that the two different slant angles are in a plane generally parallel (that is, within 30 degrees of parallel) to a coronal plane of the patient.