Royal Brompton Hospital Enhances Lung Imaging with Advanced CZT-Based Scanner
Royal Brompton Hospital in London installed a CZT-based scanner in August, significantly reducing the duration of some lung scans from about 45 minutes to 15 minutes. This advanced scanner utilizes CZT detectors, which enable highly detailed 3D lung imaging while allowing approximately a 30% reduction in the injected radioactive dose.
CZT (Cadmium Zinc Telluride) production is highly specialized, with Kromek, a UK company, being one of only a few firms capable of manufacturing CZT. Their Sedgefield facility grows CZT crystals using an atom-by-atom process in 170 furnaces to form single crystals.
These CZT detectors offer direct digital conversion that preserves timing and energy information, enabling spectroscopic imaging. Currently, CZT detectors are used in space telescopes and airport security, with expectations to expand into hand-luggage screening in the coming years.
As part of a roughly £500 million upgrade project at the Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire, CZT-based detectors will be installed, with completion targeted for 2030. Demand for CZT remains high, and some researchers face difficulties sourcing it from Kromek, leading them to consider cadmium telluride as an alternative.
