Super PETT I: A Positron Emission Tomograph Utilizing Photon Time-of-Flight Information

Ter‐Pogossian, Michel M.; Ficke, David C.; Yamamoto, Mikio; Hood, John T.

doi:10.1109/tmi.1982.4307570

Cited by 103 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…At that time, the three main groups involved in the development of ToF scanners were at CEA-LETI in France [26,27], University of Washington St. Louis in Missouri, USA [28,29], and the University of Texas, USA [30]. Other groups involved in ToF-PET research were the National Institute of Radiological Science in Chiba, Japan [31,32], and Washington University in Seattle, WA, USA [33].…”

Section: History and Early Research Of Tof-petmentioning

confidence: 99%

Instrumentation for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography

Ullah

Pratiwi

Cheon

et al. 2016

Nucl Med Mol Imaging

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a molecular imaging modality that provides information at the molecular level. This system is composed of radiation detectors to detect incoming coincident annihilation gamma photons emitted from the radiopharmaceutical injected into a patient's body and uses these data to reconstruct images. A major trend in PET instrumentation is the development of time-of-flight positron emission tomography (ToF-PET). In ToF-PET, the time information (the instant the radiation is detected) is incorporated for image reconstruction. Therefore, precise and accurate timing recording is crucial in ToF-PET. ToF-PET leads to better localization of the annihilation event and thus results in overall improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the reconstructed image. Several factors affect the timing performance of ToF-PET. In this article, the background, early research and recent advances in ToF-PET instrumentation are presented. Emphasis is placed on the various types of scintillators, photodetectors and electronic circuitry for use in ToF-PET, and their impact on timing resolution is discussed.

show abstract

Section: History and Early Research Of Tof-petmentioning

confidence: 99%

Instrumentation for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography

Ullah

Pratiwi

Cheon

et al. 2016

Nucl Med Mol Imaging

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…resolutions [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] this can be an appreciable source of timing jitter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-CFD Timing Estimators for PET Block Detectors

Ullisch

Moses

2007

IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract-In a conventional PET system with block detectors, a timing estimator is created by generating the analog sum of the signals from the four photomultiplier tubes (PMT) in a module and discriminating the sum with a single constant fraction discriminator (CFD). The differences in the propagation time between the PMTs in the module can potentially degrade the timing resolution of the module. While this degradation is probably too small to affect performance in conventional PET imaging, it may impact the timing inaccuracy for time-of-flight PET systems (which have higher timing resolution requirements). Using a separate CFD for each PMT would allow for propagation time differences to be removed through calibration and correction in software.In this paper we investigate and quantify the timing resolution achievable when the signal from each of the 4 PMTs is digitized by a separate CFD. Several methods are explored for both obtaining values for the propagation time differences between the PMTs and combining the four arrival times to form a single timing estimator. We find that the propagation time correction factors are best derived through an exhaustive search, and that the "weighted average" method provides the best timing estimator. Using these methods, the timing resolution achieved with 4 CFDs (1052 ± 82 ps) is equivalent to the timing resolution with the conventional single CFD setup (1067 ± 158 ps).

show abstract

“…9,10 In order to perform adequate effects of TOF, a scintillation detector with high time resolution is required. The main factor that permits recent TOF PET development is the availability of new scintillation materials, such as LSO and LYSO.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8 TOF can estimate the arrival time of the 511 keV photons, and therefore, the location of the emission point may be constrained along a line-of-response between the two detector pairs. 9,10 In order to perform adequate effects of TOF, a scintillation detector with high time resolution is required. The main factor that permits recent TOF PET development is the availability of new scintillation materials, such as LSO and LYSO.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

New PET system permits reliable estimates of myocardial blood flow and flow reserve

Tamaki

2016

Journal of Nuclear Cardiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A significant progress in positron emission tomography (PET) system has recently been seen which may improve sensitivity, spatial resolution, and noise reduction. Such progress has provided better quality of myocardial perfusion images with lower injected dose, and thus lower radiation to the patient. In addition, better quantification of myocardial blood flow (MBF) and coronary flow reserve (CFR) is expected.1 - 7Many of new PET cameras have three-dimensional (3D) mode acquisition with time-of-flight (TOF) technology. The system sensitivity in 3D acquisition is much greater than 2D acquisition. On the other hand, the fraction of background activity is also higher in 3D. 8 TOF, on the other hand, may significantly increase signal-to-noise ratio by decreasing noise.8 TOF can estimate the arrival time of the 511 keV photons, and therefore, the location of the emission point may be constrained along a line-of-response between the two detector pairs. 9,10 In order to perform adequate effects of TOF, a scintillation detector with high time resolution is required. The main factor that permits recent TOF PET development is the availability of new scintillation materials, such as LSO and LYSO. In addition, TOF PET has gained greater advantages in whole-body imaging with wide field of view than the brain imaging. A number of reports indicated clinical value of TOF PET in oncology fields. On the other hand, limited number of reports have reported clinical value of TOF PET in cardiac imaging.11,12 Cardiac PET may require reliable quantification of serial tracer concentrations, and thus, it is often used to estimate MBF, CFR, and various metabolic and molecular functions as quantitative parameters, such as metabolic rate of glucose, transporter retention index, receptor density, etc. Such cardiac functional assessment using optimal PET parameters is expected to be applied for severity assessment, treatment planning, and treatment monitoring in the near future.Masaya et al in the current issue assessed reproducibility of MBF and CFR with N-13 ammonia PET under 3D acquisition with and TOF. 13 The phantom study showed smaller partial volume effect with higher image contrast with TOF acquisition than non TOF. Such improvement was better seen in larger field of view than smaller field of view. Such results are quite reasonable on the basis of TOF concept. In addition, clinical data also showed higher reproducibility with smaller intra-as well as inter-observer variability using TOF technique. Unfortunately, this reproducibility study was not designed based on two separate acquisition protocols. However, small intra-as well as inter-observer variability of MBF and CFR values was well demonstrated, probably due to higher target-to-background ratio and less partial volume effects. Interestingly, the authors pointed out possible differences in variation in the apex and the segments near the right ventricle with and without TOF acquisitions. Higher background noise from the right ventricle may cause variations without TOF. On the oth...

show abstract

Super PETT I: A Positron Emission Tomograph Utilizing Photon Time-of-Flight Information

Cited by 103 publications

References 4 publications

Instrumentation for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography

Instrumentation for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography

Multi-CFD Timing Estimators for PET Block Detectors

New PET system permits reliable estimates of myocardial blood flow and flow reserve

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About