Publication
Small animal positron emission tomography systems
| Summary: | The growing demand for PET scanners in preclinical studies combined with the high cost of those equipments increased the interest in the development of new high performance and low cost system, made possible due to the recent technological developments in the industry of radiation detection. Is this work, we present two low cost PET scanners. The first is the DRIM-PET, a PET scanner with improved spatial resolution through the determination of the depth-of-interaction of the photons in the detectors, correcting the parallax effect. The use of MPPCs and wavelength-shifting fibers for light detection allows to reduce the number of components, reducing the device cost. We present the performance characterization of an unitary cell of the DRIM-PET system, as a proof-of-concept, and we report a depth-of-interaction resolution of the order of 7mm. The other PET scanner presented is the EasyPET 3D, with capabilities of acquire volumetric images and execute spectroscopy. The use of a rotation system for the detecting cells allows to reduce the number of cells thus reducing the cost of the device, keeping high spatial resolution bellow 1.5mm, uniform along the FOV, which is variable up to 60mm. Image quality was evaluated using the NEMA NU-2008 standard, the commercial prototype for the first time shown and the first preclinical acquisitions are shown for 18F-FDG and 18F-NaF, for mouse brain and skeleton imaging, respectively. Finally, the development of a simulation toolkit written in GATE for the EasyPET prototype (2D), commercialized by the Italian company CAEN, SpA, allows students to perform simple tasks the simulate experimental procedures such as the evaluation of the effect of different coincidence time and energy windows for the reconstructed image, for radioactive sources at different locations within the FOV. The platform can be included in the official code EduGATE as a supplementary module. |
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| Main Authors: | Correia, Pedro Manuel Mendes |
| Subject: | Positron Emission Tomography Parallax effect High spatial resolution Low cost PET scanners |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Document type: | doctoral thesis |
| Access type: | open access |
| Associated institution: | Universidade de Aveiro |
| Language: | English |
| Origin: | RIA - Repositório Institucional da Universidade de Aveiro |
| Summary: | The growing demand for PET scanners in preclinical studies combined with the high cost of those equipments increased the interest in the development of new high performance and low cost system, made possible due to the recent technological developments in the industry of radiation detection. Is this work, we present two low cost PET scanners. The first is the DRIM-PET, a PET scanner with improved spatial resolution through the determination of the depth-of-interaction of the photons in the detectors, correcting the parallax effect. The use of MPPCs and wavelength-shifting fibers for light detection allows to reduce the number of components, reducing the device cost. We present the performance characterization of an unitary cell of the DRIM-PET system, as a proof-of-concept, and we report a depth-of-interaction resolution of the order of 7mm. The other PET scanner presented is the EasyPET 3D, with capabilities of acquire volumetric images and execute spectroscopy. The use of a rotation system for the detecting cells allows to reduce the number of cells thus reducing the cost of the device, keeping high spatial resolution bellow 1.5mm, uniform along the FOV, which is variable up to 60mm. Image quality was evaluated using the NEMA NU-2008 standard, the commercial prototype for the first time shown and the first preclinical acquisitions are shown for 18F-FDG and 18F-NaF, for mouse brain and skeleton imaging, respectively. Finally, the development of a simulation toolkit written in GATE for the EasyPET prototype (2D), commercialized by the Italian company CAEN, SpA, allows students to perform simple tasks the simulate experimental procedures such as the evaluation of the effect of different coincidence time and energy windows for the reconstructed image, for radioactive sources at different locations within the FOV. The platform can be included in the official code EduGATE as a supplementary module. |
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