title: Advances in SPECT and PET Hardware.
abstract: There have been significant recent advances in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) hardware. Novel collimator designs, such as multi-pinhole and locally focusing collimators arranged in geometries that are optimized for cardiac imaging have been implemented to reduce imaging time and radiation dose. These new collimators have been coupled with solid state photon detectors to further improve image quality and reduce scanner size. The new SPECT scanners demonstrate up to a 7-fold increase in photon sensitivity and up to 2 times improvement in image resolution. Although PET scanners are used primarily for oncological imaging, cardiac imaging can benefit from the improved PET sensitivity of 3D systems without inter-plane septa and implementation of the time-of-flight reconstruction. Additionally, resolution recovery techniques are now implemented by all major PET vendors. These new methods improve image contrast, image resolution, and reduce image noise. Simultaneous PET/magnetic resonance (MR) hybrid systems have been developed. Solid state detectors with avalanche photodiodes or digital silicon photomultipliers have also been utilized in PET. These new detectors allow improved image resolution, higher count rate, as well as a reduced sensitivity to electromagnetic MR fields.
authors.affiliation: Artificial Intelligence Program, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, 90048; UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, 90048. Electronic address: slomkap@cshs.org.
authors.forename: Piotr J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Slomka
authors.affiliation: University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 77030. Electronic address: tpan@mdanderson.org.
authors.forename: Tinsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, 90048; UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, 90048. Electronic address: daniel.berman@cshs.org.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Berman
authors.affiliation: Artificial Intelligence Program, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, 90048; UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, 90048. Electronic address: germano@aim.csmc.edu.
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Germano
mesh_terms: D055424:Cardiac-Gated Imaging Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation; D004867:Equipment Design; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000295:instrumentation*
keywords: Cadmium zinc telluride; Cardiac PET; Cardiac SPECT; Cardiac imaging; Collimators; Digital detectors; PET; PET/CT; PET/MR; Radiation dose; SPECT; Scintillation detectors; Solid state detectors; Time-of-flight