DOI Determination by Rise Time Discrimination in Single-Ended Readout for TOF PET Imaging.

Clinical TOF PET systems achieve detection efficiency using thick crystals, typically of thickness 2-3cm. The resulting dispersion in interaction depths degrades spatial resolution for increasing radial positions due to parallax error. Furthermore, interaction depth dispersion results in time pickoff dispersion and thus in degraded timing resolution, and is therefore of added concern in TOF scanners. Using fast signal digitization, we characterize the timing performance, pulse shape and light output of LaBr3:Ce, CeBr3 and LYSO. Coincidence timing resolution is shown to degrade by ~50ps/cm for scintillator pixels of constant cross section and increasing length. By controlling irradiation depth in a scintillator pixel, we show that DOI-dependence of time pickoff is a significant factor in the loss of timing performance in thick detectors. Using the correlated DOI-dependence of time pickoff and charge collection, we apply a charge-based correction to the time pickoff, obtaining improved coincidence timing resolution of <200ps for a uniform 4×4×30mm3 LaBr3 pixel. In order to obtain both DOI identification and improved timing resolution, we design a two layer LaBr3[5%Ce]/LaBr3[30%Ce] detector of total size 4×4×30mm3, exploiting the dependence of scintillator rise time on [Ce] in LaBr3:Ce. Using signal rise time to determine interaction layer, excellent interaction layer discrimination is achieved, while maintaining coincidence timing resolution of <250ps and energy resolution <7% using a R4998 PMT. Excellent layer separation and timing performance is measured with several other commercially-available TOF photodetectors, demonstrating the practicality of this design. These results indicate the feasibility of rise time discrimination as a technique for measuring event DOI while maintaining sensitivity, timing and energy performance, in a well-known detector architecture.

Combining Surface Treatments with Shallow Slots to Improve the Spatial Resolution Performance of Continuous, Thick LYSO Detectors for PET.

Positron emission tomography (PET) detectors based on continuous scintillation crystals can achieve very good performance and have a number of practical advantages compared to detectors based on a pixelated array of crystals. Our goal is to develop a thick continuous detector with high energy and spatial resolution, along with high γ-photon capture efficiency. We examine the performance of two crystal blocks: a 46 × 46 × 14 mm3 and a 48 × 48 × 25 mm3 block of LYSO (Lutetium Yttrium Orthosilicate). Using Maximum Likelihood (ML) positioning based upon the light response function (LRF) in the 14 mm thick crystal, we measure a spatial resolution of 3 mm in the central region of the crystal with degradation near the edges due to reflections off the crystal sides. We also show that we can match the spatial resolution achieved using a 14 mm thick crystal by using a 25 mm thick crystal with slots cut into the gamma entrance surface to narrow the LRF. We also find that we can improve the spatial resolution performance near the detector edges by reducing the reflectivity of the crystal sides, albeit with some loss in energy resolution.

Instrumentation factors affecting variance and bias of quantifying tracer uptake with PET/CT.

PURPOSE: The variances and biases inherent in quantifying PET tracer uptake from instrumentation factors are needed to ascertain the significance of any measured differences such as in quantifying response to therapy. The authors studied the repeatability and reproducibility of serial PET measures of activity as a function of object size, acquisition, reconstruction, and analysis method on one scanner and at three PET centers using a single protocol with long half-life phantoms. METHODS: The authors assessed standard deviations (SDs) and mean biases of consecutive measures of PET activity concentrations in a uniform phantom and a NEMA NU-2 image quality (IQ) phantom filled with 9 months half-life 68Ge in an epoxy matrix. Activity measurements were normalized by dividing by a common decay corrected true value and reported as recovery coefficients (RCs). Each experimental set consisted of 20 consecutive PET scans of either a stationary phantom to evaluate repeatability or a repositioned phantom to assess reproducibility. One site conducted a comprehensive series of repeatability and reproducibility experiments, while two other sites repeated the reproducibility experiments using the same IQ phantom. An equation was derived to estimate the SD of a new PET measure from a known SD based on the ratios of available coincident counts between the two PET measures. RESULTS: For stationary uniform phantom scans, the SDs of maximum RCs were three to five times less than predicted for uncorrelated pixels within circular regions of interest (ROIs) with diameters ranging from 1 to 15 cm. For stationary IQ phantom scans from 1 cm diameter ROIs, the average SDs of mean and maximum RCs ranged from 1.4% to 8.0%, depending on the methods of acquisition and reconstruction (coefficients of variation range 2.5% to 9.8%). Similar SDs were observed for both analytic and iterative reconstruction methods (p > or = 0.08). SDs of RCs for 2D acquisitions were significantly higher than for 3D acquisitions (p < or =s 0.008) for same acquisition and processing parameters. SDs of maximum RCs were larger than corresponding mean values for stationary IQ phantom scans ( < or = 0.02), although the magnitude of difference is reduced due to noise correlations in the image. Increased smoothing decreased SDs ( < or =s 0.045) and decreased maximum and mean RCs (p < or = 0.02). Reproducibility of GE DSTE, Philips Gemini TF, and Siemens Biograph Hi-REZ PET/CT scans of the same IQ phantom, with similar acquisition, reconstruction, and repositioning among 20 scans, were, in general, similar (mean and maximum RC SD range 2.5% to 4.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Short-term scanner variability is low compared to other sources of error. There are tradeoffs in noise and bias depending on acquisition, processing, and analysis methods. The SD of a new PET measure can be estimated from a known SD if the ratios of available coincident counts between the two PET scanner acquisitions are known and both employ the same ROI definition. Results suggest it is feasible to use PET/CTs from different vendors and sites in clinical trials if they are properly cross-calibrated.

Sex differences in regional cerebral glucose metabolism during a resting state.

Positron emission tomography was used to evaluate the regional distribution of cerebral glucose metabolism in 61 healthy adults at rest. Although the profile of metabolic activity was similar for men and women, some sex differences and hemispheric asymmetries were detectable. Men had relatively higher metabolism than women in temporal-limbic regions and cerebellum and relatively lower metabolism in cingulate regions. In both sexes, metabolism was relatively higher in left association cortices and the cingulate region and in right ventro-temporal limbic regions and their projections. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that differences in cognitive and emotional processing have biological substrates.

Experimental evaluation of a simple lesion detection task with time-of-flight PET.

A new generation of high-performance, time-of-flight (TOF) PET scanners have recently been developed. In earlier works, the gain with TOF information was derived as a reduction of noise in the reconstructed image, or essentially a gain in scanner sensitivity. These derivations were applicable to analytical reconstruction techniques and 2D PET imaging. In this work, we evaluate the gain measured in the clinically relevant task of lesion detection with TOF information in fully 3D PET scanners using iterative reconstruction algorithms. We performed measurements in a fully 3D TOF PET scanner using spherical lesions in uniform, cylindrical phantom. Lesion detectability was estimated for 10 mm diameter lesions using a non-prewhitening matched filter signal-to-noise-ratio (NPW SNR) as the metric. Our results show that the use of TOF information leads to increased lesion detectability, which is achieved with less number of iterations of the reconstruction algorithm. These phantom results indicate that clinically, TOF PET will allow reduced scan times and improved lesion detectability, especially in large patients.

Characterization or Monolithic Scintillation Detectors Etched with Laser Induced Optical Barriers.

Several groups are actively investigating the performance of monolithic (continuous) scintillation detectors using a variety of crystal thicknesses, photo-sensor configurations, and surface treatments. This work explores the performance of thick LYSO crystals that would be applicable to a whole-body PET system. The crystals were etched with laser induced optical barriers (LIOBs) to alter the behavior of the light spread within the crystal in order to improve the performance of the detector. We studied the behavior of the LIOBs in response to optical light using small cubes of LYSO with a variety of laser etching parameters to characterize the impact of the optical barriers. We demonstrated that the opacity of the etchings can be altered by varying the parameters of the laser etching, which influences the depth-dependent light response and spatial resolution in the thick crystal. We successfully etched several crystals, as large as 50×50×25-mm3 thick, with a fine grid of LIOBs, and achieved an average spatial resolution close to 3 mm (FWHM) with 511-keV gammas.

Design considerations for a limited angle, dedicated breast, TOF PET scanner.

Development of partial ring, dedicated breast positron emission tomography (PET) scanners is an active area of research. Due to the limited angular coverage, generation of distortion and artifact-free, fully 3D tomographic images is not possible without rotation of the detectors. With time-of-flight (TOF) information, it is possible to achieve the 3D tomographic images with limited angular coverage and without detector rotation. We performed simulations for a breast scanner design with a ring diameter and an axial length of 15 cm and comprising a full (180 degrees in-plane angular coverage), 2/3 (120 degrees in-plane angular coverage) or 1/2 (90 degrees in-plane angular coverage) ring detector. Our results show that as the angular coverage decreases, improved timing resolution is needed to achieve distortion-free and artifact-free images with TOF. The contrast recovery coefficient (CRC) value for small hot lesions in a partial ring scanner is similar to a full ring non-TOF scanner. Our results indicate that a timing resolution of 600 ps is needed for a 2/3 ring scanner, while a timing resolution of 300 ps is needed for a 1/2 ring scanner. We also analyzed the ratio of lesion CRC to the background pixel noise (SNR) and concluded that TOF improves the SNR values of the partial ring scanner, and helps to compensate for the loss in sensitivity due to reduced geometric sensitivity in a limited angle coverage PET scanner. In particular, it is possible to maintain similar SNR characteristic in a 2/3 ring scanner with a timing resolution of 300 ps as in a full ring non-TOF scanner.

Impact of event positioning algorithm on performance of a whole-body PET scanner using one-to-one coupled detectors.

The advent of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) has introduced the possibility of increased detector performance in commercial whole-body PET scanners. The primary advantage of these photodetectors is the ability to couple a single SiPM channel directly to a single pixel of PET scintillator that is typically 4 mm wide (one-to-one coupled detector design). We performed simulation studies to evaluate the impact of three different event positioning algorithms in such detectors: (i) a weighted energy centroid positioning (Anger logic), (ii) identifying the crystal with maximum energy deposition (1st max crystal), and (iii) identifying the crystal with the second highest energy deposition (2nd max crystal). Detector simulations performed with LSO crystals indicate reduced positioning errors when using the 2nd max crystal positioning algorithm. These studies are performed over a range of crystal cross-sections varying from 1 × 1 mm2 to 4 × 4 mm2 as well as crystal thickness of 1 cm to 3 cm. System simulations were performed for a whole-body PET scanner (85 cm ring diameter) with a long axial FOV (70 cm long) and show an improvement in reconstructed spatial resolution for a point source when using the 2nd max crystal positioning algorithm. Finally, we observe a 30-40% gain in contrast recovery coefficient values for 1 and 0.5 cm diameter spheres when using the 2nd max crystal positioning algorithm compared to the 1st max crystal positioning algorithm. These results show that there is an advantage to implementing the 2nd max crystal positioning algorithm in a new generation of PET scanners using one-to-one coupled detector design with lutetium based crystals, including LSO, LYSO or scintillators that have similar density and effective atomic number as LSO.

Recent developments in time-of-flight PET.

While the first time-of-flight (TOF)-positron emission tomography (PET) systems were already built in the early 1980s, limited clinical studies were acquired on these scanners. PET was still a research tool, and the available TOF-PET systems were experimental. Due to a combination of low stopping power and limited spatial resolution (caused by limited light output of the scintillators), these systems could not compete with bismuth germanate (BGO)-based PET scanners. Developments on TOF system were limited for about a decade but started again around 2000. The combination of fast photomultipliers, scintillators with high density, modern electronics, and faster computing power for image reconstruction have made it possible to introduce this principle in clinical TOF-PET systems. This paper reviews recent developments in system design, image reconstruction, corrections, and the potential in new applications for TOF-PET. After explaining the basic principles of time-of-flight, the difficulties in detector technology and electronics to obtain a good and stable timing resolution are shortly explained. The available clinical systems and prototypes under development are described in detail. The development of this type of PET scanner also requires modified image reconstruction with accurate modeling and correction methods. The additional dimension introduced by the time difference motivates a shift from sinogram- to listmode-based reconstruction. This reconstruction is however rather slow and therefore rebinning techniques specific for TOF data have been proposed. The main motivation for TOF-PET remains the large potential for image quality improvement and more accurate quantification for a given number of counts. The gain is related to the ratio of object size and spatial extent of the TOF kernel and is therefore particularly relevant for heavy patients, where image quality degrades significantly due to increased attenuation (low counts) and high scatter fractions. The original calculations for the gain were based on analytical methods. Recent publications for iterative reconstruction have shown that it is difficult to quantify TOF gain into one factor. The gain depends on the measured distribution, the location within the object, and the count rate. In a clinical situation, the gain can be used to either increase the standardized uptake value (SUV) or reduce the image acquisition time or administered dose. The localized nature of the TOF kernel makes it possible to utilize local tomography reconstruction or to separate emission from transmission data. The introduction of TOF also improves the joint estimation of transmission and emission images from emission data only. TOF is also interesting for new applications of PET-like isotopes with low branching ratio for positron fraction. The local nature also reduces the need for fine angular sampling, which makes TOF interesting for limited angle situations like breast PET and online dose imaging in proton or hadron therapy. The aim of this review is to introduce the reader in an educational way into the topic of TOF-PET and to give an overview of the benefits and new opportunities in using this additional information.

Resting cerebral glucose metabolism in first-episode and previously treated patients with schizophrenia relates to clinical features.

BACKGROUND: Functional neuroimaging can elucidate brain dysfunction in schizophrenia. The frontal, temporolimbic, and diencephalic regions have been implicated. There is a lack of prospective samples of first-episode and previously treated patients followed up longitudinally. METHODS: Patients and controls (42 per group) were studied. Positron emission tomography with flurodeoxyglucose, cross-registered with magnetic resonance imaging, measured metabolism. Scales assessed clinical features, premorbid adjustment, and outcome. RESULTS: There were no differences between groups in whole-brain metabolism or regional ratios or in anterior-posterior gradients, but left midtemporal metabolism was relatively higher in patients. This was pronounced in the negative and Schneiderian and absent in the paranoid subtypes. Higher metabolism and lower relative left hemispheric values were associated with better premorbid adjustment and outcome. A higher subcortical-cortical gradient was noted in first-episode patients. CONCLUSIONS: There are no resting metabolic abnormalities in any brain region, but abnormal gradients are evident. These vary in subtypes, and laterality is associated with functioning. The results support the hypothesis of temporolimbic disturbance in schizophrenia that is all ready present at the onset of illness.

A count-rate model for PET scanners using pixelated Anger-logic detectors with different scintillators.

A high count-rate simulation (HCRSim) model has been developed so that all results are derived from fundamental physics principles. Originally developed to study the behaviour of continuous sodium iodide (NaI(Tl)) detectors, this model is now applied to PET scanners based on pixelated Anger-logic detectors using lanthanum bromide (LaBr(3)), gadolinium orthosilicate (GSO) and lutetium orthosilicate (LSO) scintillators. This simulation has been used to study the effect on scanner deadtime and pulse pileup at high activity levels due to the scintillator stopping power (mu), decay time (tau) and energy resolution. Simulations were performed for a uniform 20 cm diameter x 70 cm long cylinder (NEMA NU2-2001 standard) in a whole-body scanner with an 85 cm ring diameter and a 25 cm axial field-of-view. Our results for these whole-body scanners demonstrate the potential of a pixelated Anger-logic detector and the relationship of its performance with the scanner NEC rate. Faster signal decay and short coincidence timing window lead to a reduction in deadtime and randoms fraction in the LaBr(3) and LSO scanners compared to GSO. The excellent energy resolution of LaBr(3) leads to the lowest scatter fraction for all scanners and helps compensate for reduced sensitivity compared to the GSO and LSO scanners, leading to the highest NEC values at high activity concentrations. The LSO scanner has the highest sensitivity of all the scanner designs investigated here, therefore leading to the highest peak NEC value but at a lower activity concentration than that of LaBr(3).

Impact of detector design on imaging performance of a long axial field-of-view, whole-body PET scanner.

Current generation of commercial time-of-flight (TOF) PET scanners utilize 20-25 mm thick LSO or LYSO crystals and have an axial FOV (AFOV) in the range of 16-22 mm. Longer AFOV scanners would provide increased intrinsic sensitivity and require fewer bed positions for whole-body imaging. Recent simulation work has investigated the sensitivity gains that can be achieved with these long AFOV scanners, and has motivated new areas of investigation such as imaging with a very low dose of injected activity as well as providing whole-body dynamic imaging capability in one bed position. In this simulation work we model a 72 cm long scanner and prioritize the detector design choices in terms of timing resolution, crystal size (spatial resolution), crystal thickness (detector sensitivity), and depth-of-interaction (DOI) measurement capability. The generated list data are reconstructed with a list-mode OSEM algorithm using a Gaussian TOF kernel that depends on the timing resolution and blob basis functions for regularization. We use lesion phantoms and clinically relevant metrics for lesion detectability and contrast measurement. The scan time was fixed at 10 min for imaging a 100 cm long object assuming a 50% overlap between adjacent bed positions. Results show that a 72 cm long scanner can provide a factor of ten reduction in injected activity compared to an identical 18 cm long scanner to get equivalent lesion detectability. While improved timing resolution leads to further gains, using 3 mm (as opposed to 4 mm) wide crystals does not show any significant benefits for lesion detectability. A detector providing 2-level DOI information with equal crystal thickness also does not show significant gains. Finally, a 15 mm thick crystal leads to lower lesion detectability than a 20 mm thick crystal when keeping all other detector parameters (crystal width, timing resolution, and DOI capability) the same. However, improved timing performance with 15 mm thick crystals can provide similar or better performance than that achieved by a detector using 20 mm thick crystals.

Factors affecting accuracy and precision in PET volume imaging.

Volume imaging positron emission tomographic (PET) scanners with no septa and a large axial acceptance angle offer several advantages over multiring PET scanners. A volume imaging scanner combines high sensitivity with fine axial sampling and spatial resolution. The fine axial sampling minimizes the partial volume effect, which affects the measured concentration of an object. Even if the size of an object is large compared to the slice spacing in a multiring scanner, significant variation in the concentration is measured as a function of the axial position of the object. With a volume imaging scanner, it is necessary to use a three-dimensional reconstruction algorithm in order to avoid variations in the axial resolution as a function of the distance from the center of the scanner. In addition, good energy resolution is needed in order to use a high energy threshold to reduce the coincident scattered radiation.

A positron camera using position-sensitive detectors: PENN-PET.

A single-slice positron camera has been developed with good spatial resolution and high count rate capability. The camera uses a hexagonal arrangement of six position-sensitive NaI(Tl) detectors. The count rate capability of NaI(Tl) was extended to 800k cps through the use of pulse shortening. In order to keep the detectors stationary, an iterative reconstruction algorithm was modified which ignores the missing data in the gaps between the six detectors and gives artifact-free images. The spatial resolution, as determined from the image of point sources in air, is 6.5 mm full width at half maximum. We have also imaged a brain phantom and dog hearts.

Comparison of anatomically-defined versus physiologically-based regional localization: effects on PET-FDG quantitation.

The potential of anatomic imaging to improve the quantitative accuracy of functional brain imaging through refined regional definition is widely accepted. However, there are little data addressing the impact of approach to regional localization on quantitation of metabolic images in the absence of gross structural pathology. We compared MRI-based versus PET-based approaches to the analysis of PET 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) images using a standard adjustable template based on simple geometric regions. For the MRI-based approach, templates and individual regions were adjusted to each individual's anatomy, whereas the PET-based definition involved only global proportional adjustment of the standard templates. Metabolic rates for glucose and volume-to-whole brain ratios were determined by two operators for 78 volumes of interest in five subjects. Pairwise correlations indicated high interoperator agreement for each approach and high intraoperator agreement for MRI-based versus PET-based metabolic values. The stability of the metabolic rates and ratios among operators and analysis approaches was supported by low coefficients of variation across measurements and small average differences in paired comparisons. Thus, within the current spatial resolution of PET imaging, quantitation of metabolic images is relatively robust to image analysis approach in the absence of gross structural abnormality. To take advantage of the greater quantitative accuracy promised by high-resolution anatomic and functional imaging, more refined delineation of anatomic images will be necessary.

Clinical evaluation of processing techniques for attenuation correction with 137Cs in whole-body PET imaging.

UNLABELLED: Transmission scanning can be successfully performed with a 137Cs single-photon emitting point source for three-dimensional PET imaging. However, the attenuation coefficients provided by this method are underestimated because of the energy difference between 662- and 511-keV photons, as well as scatter and emission contamination when the transmission data are acquired after injection. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, from a clinical perspective, the relative benefits of various processing schemes to resolve these issues. METHODS: Thirty-eight whole-body PET studies acquired with postinjection singles transmission scans were analyzed. The transmission images were processed and applied to the emission data for attenuation correction. Three processing techniques were compared: simple segmentation (SEG) of the transmission scan, emission contamination subtraction with scaling (ECS) of the resulting data to 511-keV attenuation coefficient values and a hybrid technique performing partial segmentation of some tissue densities on the ECS scan (THR). The corrected emission scans were blindly assessed for image noise, the presence of edge artifacts at the lung-soft-tissue interface and for overall diagnostic confidence using a semiquantitative scoring system. The count densities and the SDs in uniform structures were compared among the various techniques. The observations for each method were compared using a paired t test. RESULTS: The SEG technique produced images that were visually less noisy than the ECS method (P < 0.0001) and the THR technique, but at the expense of increased edge artifacts at the boundaries between the lungs and surrounding tissues. The THR technique failed to eliminate these artifacts compared with the ECS technique (P < 0.0001) but preserved the activity gradients in the hilar areas. The count densities (and thus, the standardized uptake values) were similar among the three techniques, but the SEG method tended to underestimate the activity in the lung fields and in chest tumors (slope = 0.79 and 0.94, respectively). CONCLUSION: For many clinical applications, SEG data remain an efficient method for processing 137Cs transmission scans. The ECS method produced noisier images than the other two techniques but did not introduce artifacts at the lung boundaries. The THR technique, more versatile in complex anatomic areas, allowed good preservation of density gradients in the lungs.

Performance of a whole-body PET scanner using curve-plate NaI(Tl) detectors.

UNLABELLED: A whole-body PET scanner, without interplane septa, has been designed to achieve high performance in clinical applications. The C-PET scanner, an advancement of the PENN PET scanners, is unique in the use of 6 curved NaI(Tl) detectors (2.54 cm thick). The scanner has a ring diameter of 90 cm, a patient port diameter of 56 cm, and an axial field of view of 25.6 cm. A (137)Cs point source is used for transmission scans. METHODS: Following the protocols of the International Electrotechnical Commission ([IEC] 61675-1) and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association ([NEMA] NU-2-1994 and an updated version, NU2-2001), point and line sources, as well as uniform cylinders, were used to determine the performance characteristics of the C-PET scanner. An image-quality phantom and patient data were used to evaluate image quality under clinical scanning conditions. Data were rebinned with Fourier rebinning into 2-dimensional (slice-oriented) datasets and reconstructed with an iterative reconstruction algorithm. RESULTS: The spatial resolution for a point source in the transaxial direction was 4.6 mm (full width at half maximum) at the center, and the axial resolution was 5.7 mm. For the NU2-1994 analysis, the sensitivity was 12.7 cps/Bq/mL (444 kcps/microCi/mL), the scatter fraction was 25%, and the peak noise equivalent count rate (NEC) for a uniform cylinder (diameter = 20 cm, length = 19 cm) was 49 kcps at an activity concentration of 11.2 kBq/mL. For the IEC protocol, the peak NEC was 41 kcps at 12.3 kBq/mL, and for the NU2-2001 protocol, the peak NEC was 14 kcps at 3.8 kBq/mL. The NU2-2001 NEC value differed significantly because of differences in the data analysis and the use of a 70-cm-long phantom. CONCLUSION: Compared with previous PENN PET scanners, the C-PET, with its curved detectors and improvements in pulse shaping, integration dead time, and triggering, has an improved count-rate capability and spatial resolution. With the refinements in the singles transmission technique and iterative reconstruction, image quality is improved and scan time is shortened. With single-event transmission scans interleaved between sequential emission scans, a whole-body study can be completed in <1 h. Overall, C-PET is a cost-effective PET scanner that performs well in a broad variety of clinical applications.

Three-dimensional imaging characteristics of the HEAD PENN-PET scanner.

UNLABELLED: A volume-imaging PET scanner, without interplane septa, for brain imaging has been designed and built to achieve high performance, specifically in spatial resolution and sensitivity. The scanner is unique in its use of a single annular crystal of Nal(Tl), which allows a field of view (FOV) of 25.6 cm in both the transverse and axial directions. Data are reconstructed into an image matrix of 128(3) with (2 mm)3 voxels, using three-dimensional image reconstruction algorithms. METHODS: Point-source measurements are performed to determine spatial resolution over the scanner FOV, and cylindrical phantom distributions are used to determine the sensitivity, scatter fraction and counting rate performance of the system. A three-dimensional brain phantom and 18F-FDG patient studies are used to evaluate image quality with three-dimensional reconstruction algorithms. RESULTS: The system spatial resolution is measured to be 3.5 mm in both the transverse and axial directions, in the center of the FOV. The true sensitivity, using the standard NEMA phantom (6 liter), is 660 kcps/microCi/ml, after subtracting a scatter fraction of 34%. Due to deadtime effects, we measure a peak true counting rate, after scatter and randoms subtraction, of 100 kcps at 0.7 mCi for a smaller brain-sized (1.1 liter) phantom, and 70 kcps for a head-sized (2.5 liter) phantom at the same activity. A typical 18F-FDG clinical brain study requires only 2 mCi to achieve high statistics (100 million true events) with a scan time of 30 min. CONCLUSION: The HEAD PENN-PET scanner is based on a cost-effective design using Nal(Tl) and has been shown to achieve high performance for brain studies and pediatric whole-body studies. As a full-time three-dimensional imaging scanner with a very large axial acceptance angle, high sensitivity is achieved. The system becomes counting-rate limited as the activity is increased, but we achieve high image quality with a small injected dose. This is a significant advantage for clinical imaging, particularly for pediatric patients.

Continuous-slice PENN-PET: a positron tomograph with volume imaging capability.

The PENN-PET scanner consists of six hexagonally arranged position-sensitive Nal(TI) detectors. This design offers high spatial resolution in all three dimensions, high sampling density along all three axes without scanner motion, a large axial acceptance angle, good energy resolution, and good timing resolution. This results in three-dimensional imaging capability with high sensitivity and low scatter and random backgrounds. The spatial resolution is 5.5 mm (FWHM) in all directions near the center. The true sensitivity, for a brain-sized object, is a maximum of 85 kcps/microCi/ml and the scatter fraction is a minimum of 10%, both depending on the lower level energy threshold. The scanner can handle up to 5 mCi in the field of view, at which point the randoms equal the true coincidences and the detectors reach their count rate limit. We have so far acquired [18F]FDG brain studies and cardiac studies, which show the applicability of our scanner for both brain and whole-body imaging. With the results to date, we feel that this design results in a simple yet high performance scanner which is applicable to many types of static and dynamic clinical studies.

Quantitative imaging of iodine-124 with PET.

UNLABELLED: PET is potentially very useful for the accurate in vivo quantitation of time-varying biological distributions of radiolabeled antibodies over several days. The short half-lives of most commonly used positron-emitting nuclides make them unsuitable for this purpose. Iodine-124 is a positron emitter with a half-life of 4.2 days and appropriate chemical properties. It has not been widely used because of a complex decay scheme including several high energy gamma rays. However, measurements made under realistic conditions on several different PET scanners have shown that satisfactory imaging and quantitation can be achieved. METHODS: Whole-body and head-optimized scanners with different detectors (discrete BGO, block BGO and BaF2 time-of-flight), different septa and different correction schemes were used. Measurements of resolution, quantitative linearity and the ability to quantitatively image spheres of different sizes and activities in different background activities were made using phantoms. RESULTS: Compared with conventional PET nuclides, resolution and quantitation were only slightly degraded. Sphere detectability was also only slightly worse if imaging time was increased to compensate for the lower positron abundance. CONCLUSION: Quantitative imaging with 124I appears to be possible under realistic conditions with various PET scanners.