학술논문

A Submillimeter Resolution PET Prototype Evaluated With an $^{18}{F}$ Inkjet Printed Phantom
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on. 62(5):2043-2047 Oct, 2015
Subject
Nuclear Engineering
Bioengineering
Positron emission tomography
Crystals
Detectors
Phantoms
Spatial resolution
Energy resolution
Magnetic resonance imaging
MPPC
PET
radioactive printing
SiPM
Language
ISSN
0018-9499
1558-1578
Abstract
This work presents a submillimeter resolution PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanner prototype based on SiPM/MPPC arrays (Silicon Photomultiplier/Multi Pixel Photon Counter). Onto each active area a $1 \times 1 \times 20 ~\hbox{mm}^3$ LYSO (Lutetium-Yttrium-Oxyorthosilicate) scintillator crystal is coupled one-to-one. Two detector modules facing each other in a distance of 10.0 cm have been set up with in total 64 channels that are digitized by SADCs (Sampling Analog to Digital Converters) with 80 MHz, 10 bit resolution and FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) based extraction of energy and time information. Since standard phantoms are not sufficient for testing submillimeter resolution at which positron range is an issue, a $^{18}{\rm F}$ inkjet printed phantom has been used to explore the limit in spatial resolution. The phantom could be successfully reconstructed with an iterative MLEM (Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization) and an analytically calculated system matrix based on the DRF (Detector Response Function) model. The system yields a coincidence time resolution of 4.8 ns FWHM, an energy resolution of 20%–30% FWHM and a spatial resolution of 0.8 mm.