title: Simultaneous MRI and PET imaging of a rat brain.
abstract: Multi-modality imaging is rapidly becoming a valuable tool in the diagnosis of disease and in the development of new drugs. Functional images produced with PET fused with anatomical structure images created by MRI will allow the correlation of form with function. Our group is developing a system to acquire MRI and PET images contemporaneously. The prototype device consists of two opposed detector heads, operating in coincidence mode. Each MRI-PET detector module consists of an array of LSO detector elements coupled through a long fibre optic light guide to a single Hamamatsu flat panel position-sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT). The use of light guides allows the PSPMTs to be positioned outside the bore of a 3T MRI scanner where the magnetic field is relatively small. To test the device, simultaneous MRI and PET images of the brain of a male Sprague Dawley rat injected with FDG were successfully obtained. The images revealed no noticeable artefacts in either image set. Future work includes the construction of a full ring PET scanner, improved light guides and construction of a specialized MRI coil to permit higher quality MRI imaging.
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Imaging, Department of Radiology, Box 9236, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.
authors.forename: Raymond R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Raylman
authors.forename: Stan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majewski
authors.forename: Susan K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lemieux
authors.forename: S Sendhil
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Velan
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kross
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Popov
authors.forename: Mark F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Andrew G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Weisenberger
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zorn
authors.forename: Gary D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Marano
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D016477:Artifacts; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D011859:Radiography; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors