Development of an ultra high resolution PET scanner for imaging rodent paws: PawPET

Abstract—A positron emission tomography (PET) scanner with sub-millimeter spatial resolution, capable of in vivo imaging of murine extremities was built based on two dual ended readout, hybrid depth of interaction (DOI) PET detectors. Each was composed of a 36 x 36 array of 0.43 mm x 0.43 mm x 8 mm unpolished Lutetium Oxyorthosilicate crystals separated by a 50 μm white diffuse reflector. The array was coupled to a position-sensing photomultiplier tube at one end and to an avalanche photodiode at the other end. The detector characterization included crystal identification accuracy, DOI, energy, and timing resolution measurements. The scanner was characterized in terms of its spatial resolution and its sensitivity and mouse images were acquired of a mouse paw injected with 18-F-NaF. Out of the 36 x 36 crystals only 33 x 33 crystals were identified. The coincidence timing, DOI, and energy resolution of the scanner was measured to be 2.8 ns, 1.4 mm, and 27%, respectively. The scanner’s spatial resolution was measured with a line source and determined from an OSEM reconstruction to be 0.56 mm. The sensitivity of the scanner was measured to be 0.6% at the center of the field of view.