title: Combined positron emission tomography-computed tomography: the historical perspective.
abstract: The 1990s witnessed the development of the first dual-modality imaging devices for clinical applications. A combined PET-CT prototype underwent clinical evaluation from mid-1998 onward. The results from the three-year evaluation program stimulated the demand for commercial designs and in 2001 the first commercial PET-CT scanner was installed in the clinic. The availability of designs from all the major vendors of medical imaging equipment was followed by a rapid adoption of the technology and today, over 2500 PET-CT scanners are in clinical operation world-wide. This article briefly summarizes the short history of PET-CT, and reviews the current status of the technology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Radiology, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville, TN 37920, USA. dtownsend@mc.utmck.edu
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Townsend
mesh_terms: D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods
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