Performance of the Ultra-Compact Fully Integrated Brain PET System BPET

• Published in: 2020 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC) pp. 1 - 4
• Main Authors: Ahnen, M. L., Fischer, J., Kuegler, N., Mikhaylova, E., Becker, R., Lustermann, W., Soerensen, J., Buck, A., Weber, B., Sabri, O., Sattler, B., Dissertori, G.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 31.10.2020
• Subjects: Brain; Imaging phantoms; Performance evaluation; Photomultipliers; Prototypes; Sensitivity; Three-dimensional displays
• ISSN: 2577-0829
• DOI: 10.1109/NSS/MIC42677.2020.9508026

We present the prototype of a dedicated brain Positron Emission Tomography system BPET and the results of a first NEMA (NU2-2018 & NU4-2008) performance evaluation. BPET is a modular system, based on the PETA6SE application specific integrated circuit and LYSO crystals coupled in light sharing mode to silicon photomultipliers. All electronics are integrated into the detector head, which makes the system ultra-compact. The NU2-2018 spatial resolution in the axial center in [radial/tangential/axial] direction at r=10 mm is [4.0 / 3.9 / 3.5] mm full width at half maximum. The NU2-2018 system sensitivity is 2.9 cps/kBq for the smallest energy window at the radial center. It is 8.4 cps/kBq for the largest energy window considered at r=10 cm. We further show results of a noise equivalent count rate evaluation and BPET reconstructed images from a brain image quality phantom and a 3D Hoffman brain phantom. The performance characteristics of the BPET prototype are comparable to current clinical systems. BPET is the basis for the development of a clinical low-cost ultra-compact, fully integrated brain Positron Emission Tomography system.