Parametric Design Study of a Long Axial Field-of-View PET Scanner using a Block-Detector Tomograph Simulation of a Cylindrical Phantom.

We are conducting a two-phase study, which aims to select design parameters of a long-axis positron emission tomography (PET) scanner that are a compromise between detection performance and cost. In this first phase, we examine the effects of axial length, detector thickness and collimator geometry on the noise equivalent count rate per axial length (λNEC) and noise equivalent count rate per slice (dNEC). We use these metrics as approximate, but quickly computed, indicators of a PET-scanner's performance at a detection task. From this first phase, we select a subset of scanner designs for which we can conduct a detailed study of tumor detectability and quantitation accuracy in whole-body PET imaging.

Design and Implementation of a Block Detector Simulation in SimSET.

SimSET (a Simulation System for Emission Tomography) is being modified to more accurately simulate typical PET block detector tomographs. A new detector module that models the detector system as a collection of rectangular boxes is being added to the software. The new model is sufficiently general to allow many more imaginative or speculative detector systems to be simulated.