Abstract
Aims:
In this work, we evaluated the performance of three pitches positron emission tomography (PET) detectors for building a high-resolution small-animal PET imaging experimental platform.
Methods:
The evaluation of PET detectors includes two-dimensional crystal identification, energy resolution, and crystal look-up table. The nuclear instrumentation module and PXI data acquisition (DAQ) system were both used to obtain flood images. The energy spectrum of the Na-22 source was measured. PET detectors of 2.0 and 1.6 mm pitches used in our present experiment were composed of lutetium yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO) crystals directly coupled to position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes (PSPMTs). The 1.3-mm pitch detector comprises a LYSO crystal, a tapered light-guide, and a PSPMT. The crystal sizes of the detectors were a \(10 \times 10\) array of \(2.0 \times 2.0 \times 10\,\hbox {mm}^{3}\) crystals, a \(10 \times 10\) array of \(1.6 \times 1.6 \times 10\,\hbox {mm}^3\) crystals, and an \(18 \times 18\) array of \(1.3 \times 1.3 \times 10\,\hbox {mm}^3\) crystals, respectively. Due to the lower sampling frequency of the DAQ system, a spline interpolation algorithm was introduced in the signal waveform to reconstruct the peak values.
Results:
The experimental results indicated that all three PET detector crystals could be clearly identified. A detailed analysis demonstrated that the key characteristic full width at half maximum (FWHM) values of the crystals profile could reach \(0.46\pm 0.03\), \(0.32\pm 0.03\), and \(0.21\pm 0.02\,\hbox {mm}\), while the crystal average energy resolutions were \(16.8\%\pm 1.76\%\), \(20.1\%\pm 2.24\%\), and \(31.5\%\pm 3.76\%\), which correspond to pitches of 2.0-, 1.6-, and 1.3-mm, respectively.
Conclusions:
The PET detector modules of LYSO crystal arrays could be potentially used in the small-animal PET imaging applications and are promising to achieve sub-millimeter PET images.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11305083), and in part by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant lzujbky-2016-27.The authors would like to thank Dr. XU ZhiGuo of Institute of Modern Physics (IMP), Chinese Academy of Science for his valuable discussions.
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Tong, L., Fan, Y., Dong, M. et al. Positron emission tomography detector performance with different crystal pitches. Radiat Detect Technol Methods 1, 24 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41605-017-0026-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41605-017-0026-y