Experimental assessment of resolution improvement of a zoom-in PET

Phys Med Biol. 2011 Sep 7;56(17):N165-74. doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/56/17/N01. Epub 2011 Aug 9.

Abstract

We have proposed a zoom-in positron emission tomography (PET) system that incorporates a high-resolution detector into an existing PET scanner to obtain high-resolution images of a region of interest. Previously we have shown by computer simulations that the high-resolution detector can improve the overall system performance in terms of spatial resolution and lesion detectability. In this study, we assessed the resolution improvement in a real system by incorporating a high-resolution detector into our existing microPET II scanner. The high-resolution detector consists of a 14 × 28 array of 0.5 × 0.5 × 10 mm³ lutetium oxyorthosilicate scintillator elements and is placed near the center of the microPET II scanner. It is coupled to two 64-channel photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) via tapered optical fiber bundles. The PMT signals were read out by the electronics in the microPET II scanner. A 15 µCi Na-22 point source was positioned at various locations above the high-resolution detector. Images were reconstructed using the data measured by the microPET II scanner alone and the microPET II data combined with the high-resolution detector data. Profiles taken through the reconstructed point sources show substantial reduction in full-width-at-half-maximum along the direction parallel to the face of the high-resolution detector.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Diagnostic Imaging
  • Equipment Design
  • Image Enhancement / methods*
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Lutetium / chemistry
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Positron-Emission Tomography / instrumentation*
  • Positron-Emission Tomography / methods
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Scintillation Counting / methods*
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Silicates / chemistry
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed / methods

Substances

  • Silicates
  • lutetium orthosilicate
  • Lutetium