A New Highly Versatile Multimodality Small Animal Imaging Platform

• Published in: 2006 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record Vol. 4; pp. 2447 - 2449
• Main Authors: Gleason, S.S., Austin, D.W., Beach, R.S., Nutt, R., Paulus, M.J., Shikui Yan
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.10.2006
• Subjects: Anesthesia; Animals; Biomedical monitoring; Cable shielding; Computed tomography; Control systems; Optical imaging; Positron emission tomography; Workstations; X-ray imaging
• DOI: 10.1109/NSSMIC.2006.354406
• ISBN: 9781424405602; 1424405602
• ISSN: 1082-3654

A new, highly versatile multi-modality small animal imaging platform, the Siemens Inveon Multimodality (MM) scanner, has been developed. This platform supports any combination of X-ray micro-CT, single-photon computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) modalities on a single gantry. Each modality within the system is designed to be configured with a different level of imaging performance based on the needs of the application. From a single control workstation, the end-user has the ability to tune the system configuration for each modality in terms of resolution, field-of-view (FOV), sensitivity, etc., as needed for the target application. The scanner platform is ergonomically designed to allow efficient access to the animal and employs a unique cable management device to allow more effective use of physiologic monitoring and anesthesia systems within a user-accessible X-ray shielded cabinet. The motivation for this versatile platform design is to accommodate a wide range of multi-modality imaging applications from mouse to small primate, each with performance parameters that can be tuned as driven by the target anatomy or biological process being studied within the animal.