Digirad wins solid-state detector patent

Solid-state gamma camera developer Digirad of San Diego announced this month that the U.S. Patent Office has granted the company a patent on a method of manufacturing solid-state digital detector modules. Digirad believes the patent is so comprehensive that it will be difficult for other potential solid-state detector manufacturers to avoid infringement.

The patent covers technology that uses semiconductor gamma ray detector modules that can be butted on all sides to form a seamless imaging array of any size. The patent also covers gamma cameras that use these modules, according to the company.

Digirad is unaware of any commercially feasible way to manufacture a solid-state, large field-of-view gamma camera without violating the patent, because solid-state cameras require individual detectors that must be tiled together, rather than a single crystal as used in vacuum-tube systems, according to Karen Klause, president and CEO. Klause declined to comment on whether Digirad would license the buttable module technology.

Digirad manufactures and markets Digirad 2020 TC Imager, a portable single-head gamma camera that uses solid-state detector technology.