ALBIRA: a small animal PET∕SPECT∕CT imaging system
- PMID: 23635276
- DOI: 10.1118/1.4800798
ALBIRA: a small animal PET∕SPECT∕CT imaging system
Abstract
Purpose: The authors have developed a trimodal PET∕SPECT∕CT scanner for small animal imaging. The gamma ray subsystems are based on monolithic crystals coupled to multianode photomultiplier tubes (MA-PMTs), while computed tomography (CT) comprises a commercially available microfocus x-ray tube and a CsI scintillator 2D pixelated flat panel x-ray detector. In this study the authors will report on the design and performance evaluation of the multimodal system.
Methods: X-ray transmission measurements are performed based on cone-beam geometry. Individual projections were acquired by rotating the x-ray tube and the 2D flat panel detector, thus making possible a transaxial field of view (FOV) of roughly 80 mm in diameter and an axial FOV of 65 mm for the CT system. The single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) component has a dual head detector geometry mounted on a rotating gantry. The distance between the SPECT module detectors can be varied in order to optimize specific user requirements, including variable FOV. The positron emission tomography (PET) system is made up of eight compact modules forming an octagon with an axial FOV of 40 mm and a transaxial FOV of 80 mm in diameter. The main CT image quality parameters (spatial resolution and uniformity) have been determined. In the case of the SPECT, the tomographic spatial resolution and system sensitivity have been evaluated with a (99m)Tc solution using single-pinhole and multi-pinhole collimators. PET and SPECT images were reconstructed using three-dimensional (3D) maximum likelihood and ordered subset expectation maximization (MLEM and OSEM) algorithms developed by the authors, whereas the CT images were obtained using a 3D based FBP algorithm.
Results: CT spatial resolution was 85 μm while a uniformity of 2.7% was obtained for a water filled phantom at 45 kV. The SPECT spatial resolution was better than 0.8 mm measured with a Derenzo-like phantom for a FOV of 20 mm using a 1-mm pinhole aperture collimator. The full width at half-maximum PET radial spatial resolution at the center of the field of view was 1.55 mm. The SPECT system sensitivity for a FOV of 20 mm and 15% energy window was 700 cps∕MBq (7.8 × 10(-2)%) using a multi-pinhole equipped with five apertures 1 mm in diameter, whereas the PET absolute sensitivity was 2% for a 350-650 keV energy window and a 5 ns timing window. Several animal images are also presented.
Conclusions: The new small animal PET∕SPECT∕CT proposed here exhibits high performance, producing high-quality images suitable for studies with small animals. Monolithic design for PET and SPECT scintillator crystals reduces cost and complexity without significant performance degradation.
Similar articles
-
Small animal PET scanner based on monolithic LYSO crystals: performance evaluation.Med Phys. 2012 Feb;39(2):643-53. doi: 10.1118/1.3673771. Med Phys. 2012. PMID: 22320773
-
Effects of system geometry and other physical factors on photon sensitivity of high-resolution positron emission tomography.Phys Med Biol. 2007 Jul 7;52(13):3753-72. doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/52/13/007. Epub 2007 May 29. Phys Med Biol. 2007. PMID: 17664575 Free PMC article.
-
Collimator design for a multipinhole brain SPECT insert for MRI.Med Phys. 2015 Nov;42(11):667989. doi: 10.1118/1.4934371. Med Phys. 2015. PMID: 26520758
-
Advances in SPECT and PET Hardware.Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2015 May-Jun;57(6):566-78. doi: 10.1016/j.pcad.2015.02.002. Epub 2015 Feb 24. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2015. PMID: 25721706 Review.
-
Brain single-photon emission CT physics principles.AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2008 Aug;29(7):1247-56. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A1175. Epub 2008 Jun 26. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2008. PMID: 18583408 Free PMC article. Review.
Cited by
-
Preclinical molecular imaging: development of instrumentation for translational research with small laboratory animals.Einstein (Sao Paulo). 2016 Jul-Sep;14(3):408-414. doi: 10.1590/S1679-45082016AO3696. Einstein (Sao Paulo). 2016. PMID: 27759832 Free PMC article.
-
Architecture-Level Optimization on Digital Silicon Photomultipliers for Medical Imaging.Sensors (Basel). 2021 Dec 24;22(1):122. doi: 10.3390/s22010122. Sensors (Basel). 2021. PMID: 35009665 Free PMC article.
-
Non-invasive imaging and analysis of cerebral ischemia in living rats using positron emission tomography with 18F-FDG.J Vis Exp. 2014 Dec 28;(94):51495. doi: 10.3791/51495. J Vis Exp. 2014. PMID: 25590998 Free PMC article.
-
Innovative Pre-Clinical Data Using Peptides to Intervene in the Evolution of Pulmonary Fibrosis.Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jul 4;24(13):11049. doi: 10.3390/ijms241311049. Int J Mol Sci. 2023. PMID: 37446227 Free PMC article.
-
Doxycycline and Zinc Loaded Silica-Nanofibrous Polymers as Biomaterials for Bone Regeneration.Polymers (Basel). 2020 May 25;12(5):1201. doi: 10.3390/polym12051201. Polymers (Basel). 2020. PMID: 32466191 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Medical
Miscellaneous