Mean free path gamma

At present, most PET scanners can acquire in both a two-dimensional as well as a three-dimensional mode, whereas SPECT cameras measure in a three-dimensional mode. The physical property of the dual-positron gamma-rays emission lends itself to mathematical reconstruction algorithms to produce three-dimensional images in which the calculations are much closer to exact theoretical ones than those of SPECT. This is, in part, due to the two-photon as opposed to single-photon approach. PET can now achieve resolutions, for example in animal-dedicated scanners, in the order of 1 or 2 mm. The resolution is inherently limited theoretically only by the mean free path or distance in which the positron travels before it annihilates with an electron, e.g. those in biological water 2-8 mm. SPECT, although achieving millimeter resolution with the appropriate instrumentation, cannot quite achieve these levels. 

Thus, the mean free path is simply the inverse of the total linear attenuation coefficient. If = 10 m for a certain y-ray traveling in a certain medium, then the distance between two successive interactions of this gamma in that medium is A = 1/p = 1/10 m = 0.10 m. 

---