title: Positron Emission Tomography: Current Challenges and Opportunities for Technological Advances in Clinical and Preclinical Imaging Systems.
abstract: Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging is based on detecting two time-coincident high-energy photons from the emission of a positron-emitting radioisotope. The physics of the emission, and the detection of the coincident photons, give PET imaging unique capabilities for both very high sensitivity and accurate estimation of the in vivo concentration of the radiotracer. PET imaging has been widely adopted as an important clinical modality for oncological, cardiovascular, and neurological applications. PET imaging has also become an important tool in preclinical studies, particularly for investigating murine models of disease and other small-animal models. However, there are several challenges to using PET imaging systems. These include the fundamental trade-offs between resolution and noise, the quantitative accuracy of the measurements, and integration with X-ray computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. In this article, we review how researchers and industry are addressing these challenges.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioingeniería e Ingeniería Aeroespacial, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28911 Madrid, Spain, and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, 28007 Madrid, Spain; email: juanjose.vaquero@uc3m.es.
authors.forename: Juan José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Vaquero
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiology, Bioengineering, and Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195; email: kinahan@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kinahan
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001698:Biomedical Engineering; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: PET/CT; PET/MRI; multimodality kinetic modeling; silicon photomultipliers; system model; tomographic image reconstruction