Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a functional imaging technique that enhances clinician’s ability to diagnose and treat diseases non-invasively by detecting metabolic processes within the body. Currently it is mainly used in areas such as oncology, cardiology and neurology. Getting to know how this nuclear imaging systems work is of great importance, especially for biomedical engineers who need to have a good command of the different medical imaging techniques. The goal of this project is to prepare an experimental rPET prototype and have its hardware and mechanical system ready for teaching purposes. The project was carried out in the Biomedical Engineering laboratories of Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
The rPET was an undocumented laboratory system and it was necessary to gather all the existing information referring to the device and compile it in a user’s manual to facilitate future work with the system.
In order to set up the mechanical system, the system’s source supply and the external connections coming out from the control motor box were rewired. The prototype lacked of a bed system, so a completely new one was installed into the device. In order to facilitate the rPET control, a joystick that allows the user to manipulate the bed and ring of detector’s movement was implemented. This joystick also contains security measures such as a deadman push button and LEDs to inform about fault states. It was also necessary to check the proper functioning of the detectors to correct offsets or any other possible failure. The mechanical system of the rPET can be controlled either with the implemented joystick or by means of commands in a Linux terminal. The software of the rPET was already implemented but it was required to verify the communication between the CPU and the control system, update the necessary parameters in order to match the renewed bed system and check the functioning of the motor controller’s and acquisition software.Ingeniería Biomédic
