Time of flight in PET revisited

Moses, W.W.

doi:10.1109/tns.2003.817319

Cited by 310 publications

(189 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Tests with LSO scintillators show that a coincidence timing resolution down to 300 ps can be achieved with 2 single LSO crystals in coincidence (51). The improvement gained in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR TOF ) with a PET system using TOF, compared with non-TOF PET, is described by the following (52):…”

Section: Tof Petmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latest Advances in Molecular Imaging Instrumentation

Pichler¹,

Wehrl²,

Judenhofer³

2008

J Nucl Med

194

110

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This review concentrates on the latest advances in molecular imaging technology, including PET, MRI, and optical imaging. In PET, significant improvements in tumor detection and image resolution have been achieved by introducing new scintillation materials, iterative image reconstruction, and correction methods. These advances enabled the first clinical scanners capable of time-of-flight detection and incorporating point-spread-function reconstruction to compensate for depth-of-interaction effects. In the field of MRI, the most important developments in recent years have mainly been MRI systems with higher field strengths and improved radiofrequency coil technology. Hyperpolarized imaging, functional MRI, and MR spectroscopy provide molecular information in vivo. A special focus of this review article is multimodality imaging and, in particular, the emerging field of combined PET/MRI. PETi s a high-performance imaging technology that can image the whole-body distribution of positron-emitting biomarkers with high sensitivity. The invention of PET dates back more than 30 y. However, the acceptance of PET as a routine clinical diagnostic tool has been hampered by the need for an on-site cyclotron and a radiochemistry unit for the production of the short-lived radiotracers (1-7). With the availability of commercial radiopharmacies that supply PET probes and with the relatively broad insurance coverage for a variety of clinical indications, the number of PET centers now totals more than 2,000 worldwide.Major technologic milestones in the development of PET include the discovery of faster and brighter scintillators such as lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO), gadolinium oxyorthosilicate, and lutetium yttrium oxyorthosilicate. Furthermore, the continuing development of the detectors, progressing from one-to-one scintillator-to-photomultiplier-tube (PMT) coupling (8,9) to advanced block and Anger readout schemes, helps to limit the costs of a PET scanner by providing a multiplexed readout and reduced electronic channels (10-13).The use of faster scintillators enabled the transition from 2-dimensional data acquisitions for whole-body PET, using lead or tungsten collimators as septa (14-16), to 3-dimensional (3D) acquisitions (17). However, approximately an 8-fold increase in detection sensitivity is accompanied by an increased fraction of random and scattered photon events leading to degradation of image quality if not corrected during image reconstruction (18). This degradation effectively reduces the increase in sensitivity from a factor of 8 to approximately 5-fold. To achieve high-quality and quantitative PET data, various image reconstruction techniques have evolved (19). One simple approach is filtered backprojection, which is computationally fast but results in poor image quality if the count statistics of the available PET data are inadequate. Better image quality and improved spatial resolution are achieved by iterative methods such as ordered-subset expectation maximization or maximumlikelihood expectation maximiza...

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Section: Tof Petmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latest Advances in Molecular Imaging Instrumentation

Pichler¹,

Wehrl²,

Judenhofer³

2008

J Nucl Med

194

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…in positron emission tomography (PET), where the new generation of PET scanners utilizes for the image reconstruction differences between time of flight (TOF) of annihilation quanta from the annihilation vertex to the detectors ( Conti 2009, Humm et al 2003, Karp et al 2008, Townsend 2004, Moses Derenzo 1999, Moses 2003, Conti Eriksson 2009.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time resolution of the plastic scintillator strips with matrix photomultiplier readout for J-PET tomograph

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Recent tests of a single module of the Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomography system (J-PET) consisting of 30 cm long plastic scintillator strips have proven its applicability for the detection of annihilation quanta (0.511 MeV) with a coincidence resolving time (CRT) of 0.266 ns. The achieved resolution is almost by a factor of two better with respect to the current TOF-PET detectors and it can still be improved since, as it is shown in this article, the intrinsic limit of time resolution for the determination of time of the interaction of 0.511 MeV gamma quanta in plastic scintillators is much lower. As the major point of the article, a method allowing to record timestamps of several photons, at two ends of the scintillator strip, by means of matrix of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) is introduced. As a result of simulations, conducted with the number of SiPM varying from 4 to 42, it is shown that the improvement of timing resolution saturates with the growing number of photomultipliers, and that the 2 x 5 configuration at two ends allowing to read twenty timestamps, constitutes an optimal solution. The conducted simulations accounted for the emission time distribution, photon transport and absorption inside the scintillator, as well as quantum efficiency and transit time spread of photosensors, and were checked based on the experimental results. Application of the 2 x 5 matrix of SiPM allows for achieving the coincidence resolving time in positron emission tomography of ≈ 0.170 ns for 15 cm axial field-of-view (AFOV) and ≈ 0.365 ns for 100 cm AFOV. The results open perspectives for construction of a cost-effective TOF-PET scanner with significantly better TOF resolution and larger AFOV with respect to the current

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“…Faster detector response is seeked for in high-energy physics to prevent pile-up effect in high-luminosity experiments [1][2]. Faster readout improves the signal to noise ratio and, therefore, allows a decrease of the injected dose to the patient to accumulate sufficient information in positron emission tomography (PET) [3], positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) [4], and other scintillatorbased medical devices. Time resolution of ~200 ps is reported for detectors based on LYSO:Ce [5] and PWO with readout using avalanche photodiodes [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Luminescence rise time in self-activated PbWO4 and Ce-doped Gd3Al2Ga3O12 scintillation crystals

Auffray

Augulis

Borisevich³

et al. 2016

Journal of Luminescence

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Highlights: Photoluminescence rise time is studied in two scintillators: PWO and GAGG:Ce This study is encouraged by the necessity to find novel detection methods enabling a sub-10-ps time resolution in scintillation detectors and is focused on the exploitation of fast luminescence rise front. Time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and thermally stimulated luminescence techniques have been used to study two promising scintillators: self-activated lead tungstate (PWO, PbWO4) and Ce-doped gadolinium aluminum gallium garnet (GAGG, Gd3Al2Ga3O12). A sub-picosecond PL rise time is observed in PWO, while longer processes in the PL response in GAGG:Ce are detected and studied. The mechanisms responsible for the PL rise time in selfactivated and doped scintillators are under discussion.

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Time of flight in PET revisited

Cited by 310 publications

References 33 publications

Latest Advances in Molecular Imaging Instrumentation

Latest Advances in Molecular Imaging Instrumentation

Time resolution of the plastic scintillator strips with matrix photomultiplier readout for J-PET tomograph

Luminescence rise time in self-activated PbWO4 and Ce-doped Gd3Al2Ga3O12 scintillation crystals

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