Three-dimensional imaging characteristics of the HEAD PENN-PET scanner
- Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States); and others
A volume-imaging PET scanner, without interplane septa, for brain imaging has been designed and built to achieve high performance, specifically in spatial resolution and sensitivity. The scanner is unique in its use of a single annular crystal of Na(Tl), which allows a field of view (FOV) of 25.6 cm in both the transverse and axial directions. Data are reconstructed into an image matrix of 128{sup 3} with (2mm){sup 3} voxels, using three-dimensional image reconstruction algorithms. Point-source measurements are performed to determine spatial resolution over the scanner FOV, and cylindrical phantom distributions are used to determine the sensitivity, scatter fraction and counting rate performance of the system a three-dimensional reconstruction algorithms. The system spatial resolution is measured to be 3.5mm in both the transverse and axial directions, in the center of the FOV. The true sensitivity, using the standard NEMA phantom (6 liter), is 660 kcps/{mu}Ci/ml, after subtracting a scatter fraction of 34%. Due to deadtime effects, we measure a peak true counting rate, after scatter and randoms subtraction, of 100 kcps at 0.7 mCi for a smaller brain-sized (1.1 liter) phantom, and 70 kcps for a head-sized (2.5 liter) phantom at the same activity. A typical {sup 18}F-FDG clinical brain study requires only 2 mCi to achieve high statistics (100 million true events) with a scan time of 30 min. The HEAD PENN-PET scanner is based on a cost-effective design using Nal(Tl) and has been shown to achieve high performance for brain studies and pediatric whole-body studies. As a full-time three-dimensional imaging scanner with a very large axial acceptance angle, high sensitivity is achieved. The system becomes counting-rate limited as the activity is increased, but we achieve high image quality with a small injected dose. This is a significant advantage for clinical imaging, particularly for pediatric patients. 38 refs., 8 figs.
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-88ER60642
- OSTI ID:
- 471491
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Vol. 38, Issue 4; Other Information: PBD: Apr 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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