30 research outputs found
Initial PET Performance Evaluation of a Preclinical Insert for PET/MRI with Digital SiPM Technology
Hyperion-IID is a positron emission tomography (PET) insert which allows
simultaneous operation in a clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner.
To read out the scintillation light of the employed LYSO crystal arrays with a
pitch of 1 mm pitch and 12 mm in height, digital silicon photomultipliers (DPC
3200-22, Philips Digital Photon Counting) (DPC) are used. The basic PET
performance in terms of energy resolution, coincidence resolution time (CRT)
and sensitivity as a function of operating parameters, such as the operating
temperature, the applied overvoltage, activity and configuration parameters of
the DPCs, were evaluated on system level. The measured energy resolution did
not show a large dependency on the selected parameters and is in the range of
12.4-12.9% for low activities and degrades to ~13.6% at activities of ~100 MBq.
The CRT strongly depends on the selected trigger scheme (trig) of the DPCs. We
measured approximately 260 ps, 440 ps, 540 ps and 1300 ps for trig 1-4,
respectively. The trues sensitivity for a NEMA NU 4 mouse-sized scatter phantom
with a 70-mm-long tube of activity was dependent on the operating parameters
and was determined to be 0.4-1.4% at low activities. The random fraction stayed
below 5% at activities up to 100 MBq and the scatter fraction was evaluated as
~6% for an energy window of 411-561 keV and ~16% for 250-625 keV. Furthermore,
we performed imaging experiments using a mouse-sized hot-rod phantom and a
large rabbit-sized phantom. In 2D slices of the reconstructed mouse-sized
hot-rod phantom ({\O} = 28 mm), the rods were distinguishable from each other
down to a rod size of 0.8 mm. There was no benefit of the better CRT of trig 1
over trig 3, where in the larger rabbit-sized phantom ({\O} = 114 mm), we could
show a clear improvement of image quality using the time-of-flight information.Comment: Final journal version including the supplemntal data. The images in
the supplement were compressed to meet the arXiv file size limi
PET/MRI insert using digital SiPMs:Investigation of MR-compatibility
AbstractIn this work, we present an initial MR-compatibility study performed with the world's first preclinical PET/MR insert based on fully digital silicon photo multipliers (dSiPM). The PET insert allows simultaneous data acquisition of both imaging modalities and thus enables the true potential of hybrid PET/MRI. Since the PET insert has the potential to interfere with all of the MRI's subsystems (strong magnet, gradients system, radio frequency (RF) system) and vice versa, interference studies on both imaging systems are of great importance to ensure an undisturbed operation. As a starting point to understand the interference, we performed signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurements as well as dedicated noise scans on the MRI side to characterize the influence of the PET electronics on the MR receive chain. Furthermore, improvements of sub-components’ shielding of the PET system are implemented and tested inside the MRI. To study the influence of the MRI on the PET performance, we conducted highly demanding stress tests with gradient and RF dominated MR sequences. These stress tests unveil a sensitivity of the PET's electronics to gradient switching