Development and Evaluation of a Portable MVT-Based All-Digital Helmet PET Scanner

• Published in: IEEE transactions on radiation and plasma medical sciences Vol. 8; no. 3; pp. 287 - 294
• Main Authors: Zhou, Feng, D'Ascenzo, Nicola, Zhang, Bo, Antonecchia, Emanuele, Fang, Lei, Ba, Li, Zhang, Min, Zhu, Xiaohua, Liu, Qiong, Ni, Jiazuan, Frati, Giacomo, Kreissl, Michael, Chen, Xun, Wu, Jiang, Xie, Qingguo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.03.2024; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Advanced diagnostics; Algorithms; Alzheimer's disease; Brain; Detectors; Head; helmet brain positron emission tomography; Helmets; hemispherical detector arrangement; Magnetic heads; Medical diagnosis; Medical imaging; multi voltage threshold (MVT); Neurodegenerative diseases; Neuroimaging; Performance evaluation; Plasmas; Portability; portable positron emission tomography; Positron emission; Positron emission tomography; Protective equipment; Safety; Scanners; Sensitivity; Spatial discrimination; Spatial resolution; Thalamus
• ISSN: 2469-7311; 2469-7303
• DOI: 10.1109/TRPMS.2024.3357571

Novel design solutions for dedicated portable brain positron emission tomography systems with improved performance facilitate emergency and interventional image-guided surgery as well as advanced diagnostics of clinically impaired patients with neurodegenerative diseases. We report a novel portable MVT-based All-Digital helmet PET system with a hemispherical detector arrangement based on the Multi Voltage Threshold technology. It has a transverse and axial field of view (FOV) of 200 and 124 mm, respectively. It allows to scan subjects in a standing, sitting, and lying position. We evaluated the performance of the system according to NEMA standards. The scanner exhibits a noise equivalent count rate peak of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mathbf {(151\pm 2)} </tex-math></inline-formula> kcps at the activity of 40.65 kBq/mL, a sensitivity of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mathbf {(55.24\pm 0.05)} </tex-math></inline-formula> cps/kBq, and a spatial resolution at the center of the FOV of approximately 3.3 mm (FWHM), when using the filtered back projection algorithm. For a mini Derenzo phantom, rods of 2.0-mm diameter can be clearly separated. Time-dynamic [<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mathbf {^{18}}\text{F} </tex-math></inline-formula>]-Fluorodeoxyglucose human brain imaging was performed, showing the distinctive traits of cortex and thalamus uptake, as well as of the arterial and venous flow with 30 s time frames. We finally verified the usability of the device in the diagnostics of Alzheimer's Disease by imaging human subjects with [<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mathbf {^{18}}\text{F} </tex-math></inline-formula>]-Florbetapir.