ABSTRACT
Gamma spectrometry primarily is used for identification and quantification of gamma-emitting radionuclides present in samples collected from a specific environment. The objective is often to determine, with a certain confidence, whether the activity concentration of the present gamma emitters exceed some reference level: for example, a criterion for the highest level of impurity of gamma emitters in a radiopharmaceutical solution. Although medical physicists within nuclear medicine applications may often rely on the delivered radioactive solutions fulfilling quality criteria in terms of specified radionuclide content, it may nevertheless still be important to have access to, and sufficiently master, gamma-spectrometric assessments to make independent quality assurances. In this chapter a brief overview of gamma-spectrometric assessment is presented, with the aim of obtaining an understanding of the physical and computational fundamentals of this measurement procedure and the quality parameters used to characterize the performance of the assessment method. What prerequisites exist for setting up a gamma-spectrometry system, and what factors influence the precision and accuracy of the method? Furthermore, this chapter presents the basic procedures for maintaining a sufficient quality in the performance of the gamma spectrometry and also provides some examples of evaluation of gamma spectra.
