title: Development of a PET scanner for simultaneously imaging small animals with MRI and PET.
abstract: Recently, positron emission tomography (PET) is playing an increasingly important role in the diagnosis and staging of cancer. Combined PET and X-ray computed tomography (PET-CT) scanners are now the modality of choice in cancer treatment planning. More recently, the combination of PET and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is being explored in many sites. Combining PET and MRI has presented many challenges since the photo-multiplier tubes (PMT) in PET do not function in high magnetic fields, and conventional PET detectors distort MRI images. Solid state light sensors like avalanche photo-diodes (APDs) and more recently silicon photo-multipliers (SiPMs) are much less sensitive to magnetic fields thus easing the compatibility issues. This paper presents the results of a group of Canadian scientists who are developing a PET detector ring which fits inside a high field small animal MRI scanner with the goal of providing simultaneous PET and MRI images of small rodents used in pre-clinical medical research. We discuss the evolution of both the crystal blocks (which detect annihilation photons from positron decay) and the SiPM array performance in the last four years which together combine to deliver significant system performance in terms of speed, energy and timing resolution.
authors.affiliation: Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, 11870 Lavigne, Montreal, QC H4J1X8, Canada. Christopher.Thompson@McGill.Ca.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Manitoba, 807L-715 McDermot Ave. Winnipeg, MB R3E 3P4, Canada. xuezhu.zhang@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Andrew L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Goertzen
authors.affiliation: Imaging Program, Lawson Health Research Institute, 800 Commissioners Road East, London, ON N6A 5W9, Canada. jthiessen@lawsonimaging.ca.
authors.forename: Jonathan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Thiessen
authors.affiliation: Detector Development Group, TRIUMF, 4004 Westbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 2A3, Canada. daryl@triumf.ca.
authors.forename: Daryl
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bishop
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 2350 Health Sciences Mall, B3711 Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada. gregstortz@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stortz
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, 2350 Health Sciences Mall, B3711 Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada. Piotr.Kozlowski@ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kozlowski
authors.affiliation: Detector Development Group, TRIUMF, 4004 Westbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 2A3, Canada. fretiere@triumf.ca.
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Retière
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 3P4, Canada. xuezhu.zhang@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Xuezhu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 2350 Health Sciences Mall, B3711 Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada. vesna@phas.ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Vesna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sossi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation; D004867:Equipment Design / Q000295:instrumentation; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017785:Photons; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000295:instrumentation
chemical_list: D012825:Silicon