An animal PET scanner using flat-panel position-sensitive PMTs.
OBJECTIVE
To design, build, and evaluate an animal PET scanner, which can be used with non-human primates under conscious condition, incorporating flat-panel position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes (PS-PMTs).


METHODS
The system contains 30 detector modules, each having two PS-PMTs and 16×18 lutetium–yttrium oxyortho-silicate scintillation crystal arrays. The system has 17,280 crystals (480 per ring) arranged in 36 rings, with a diameter of 508 mm and axial extent of 108 mm. The gantry tilt mechanism enables PET studies to be performed on a monkey in the sitting position. Data can be acquired in either the 2D or 3D mode, with the slice collimators being retracted in the 3D mode.


RESULTS
At the center of the field-of-view, radial resolution is 2.7 mm full width at half maximum (FWHM) and tangential resolution is 2.4 mm FWHM, while axial resolution is 2.5 mm FWHM for direct slices and 2.7 mm FWHM for cross slices. Scatter fraction, count rate capability, and sensitivity were evaluated using a cylindrical phantom 10 cm in diameter. The noise equivalent count rate in the 3D mode is equivalent to that in the 2D mode at a three times higher radioactivity level. Total system sensitivity is 1.3 kcps/(kBq/mL) in 2D mode and 7.4 kcps/(kBq/mL) in the 3D mode. Animal studies with a monkey were performed to evaluate the imaging capabilities of the scanner.


CONCLUSIONS
The new PET scanner will be a useful research tool with non-human primates for pre-clinical drug development.
Takashi
T
Okamoto
Kibou
K
Ote
Koichi
K
Sakai
Akihiro
A
Noda
Keiji
K
Shimizu
Keisuke
K
Masuda
Tomohide
T
Ohmura
Mitsuo
M
Watanabe
D000818:Animals; D004867:Equipment Design; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000295:instrumentation*
D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18