NEMA NU-4 performance evaluation of a non-human primate animal PET

Abstract

The Eplus-260 primate PET is an animal PET imaging system developed by the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is designed to image non-human primates, especially the brain of large non-human primates. The system consists of 48 block detectors arranged in two 24-sided rings with a ring diameter of 263 mm and an axial extent of 64 mm. Each block detector is composed of a 16 × 16 cerium-doped lutetium–yttrium orthosilicate crystal array with a pixel size of 1.9 × 1.9 × 10 mm3. This article presents a performance evaluation of the PET scanner according to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association NU-4 2008 standards. All measurements were made for an energy window of 360–660 keV and a coincidence timing window of 2 ns. In terms of the FWHM, the FBP reconstructed spatial resolution results in all three directions at the radial position of 5 mm were better than or approached to 2 mm, and remained below 3.0 mm within the central 5 cm diameter of the FOV. The peak absolute sensitivity of the scanner was measured 1.80%. For a monkey-sized phantom, the scatter fraction was 34.2% and the peak noise equivalent count rate (NECR) was 26.5 kcps at 64.3 kBq/cc. The overall imaging capabilities of the scanner were also assessed using in vivo imaging study of a rhesus macaque. The performance measurements demonstrate that the Eplus-260 primate PET scanner has the potential ability to obtain good quality and high-contrast images for non-human primates, especially the brain of large non-human primates and could be considered as one technologically advanced dedicated non-human primate PET scanner available today.

Recommendations for Standardizing Thorax PET–CT in Non-Human Primates by Recent Experience from Macaque Studies

“…Besides the LFER 150, there are a couple of other scanners developed dedicated for large animal imaging like NHPs. The MicroPET P4 and MicroPET FOCUS 220 both proved their value in NHP imaging, but are no longer supported by the manufacturer [11]. Two other scanners are currently available.…”

Advances in Preclinical PET Instrumentation

“…This scanner used LYSO/PSPMT detection modules offering an extra-large bore (230 mm) and axial coverage (64 mm) allowing PET scanning of larger objects. 59 The reconstructed spatial resolution was measured to be 1.8 mm within the 50 mm TFOV with 1.8% sensitivity using a 360 to 660 keV energy window.…”

“…Some of the recent designs specialized for moderate or large nonhuman primate animals, such as Hyperion P D , Eplus-260, and MiniEXPLORER I could benefit from improved timing resolution for TOF-PET reconstruction. 59,61,66 The TT-TOF project based on Silicon pixel sensors with 16 steplike modules is being developed. 110 , which is expected ... is expected to achieve 30 ps time resolution using Silicon-Germanium (Si-Ge) amplifiers in the pixel sensor.…”

Towards quantitative small-animal imaging on hybrid PET/CT and PET/MRI systems

“…Similarly, a number of commercial preclinical PET scanners used a 137 Cs transmission source (e.g. ClairvivoPET [134] and Eplus-60 [135]) or 57 Co (e.g. Inveon DPET) [136].…”