A new high-resolution PET scanner dedicated to brain research

A high-resolution positron emission tomography (PET) scanner dedicated to brain studies has been developed and its physical performance was evaluated. The block detector consists of a new compact position-sensitive photomultiplier tube (PS-PMT, Hamamatsu R7600-C12) and an 8 x 4 bismuth germanate (BGO) array. The size of each crystal is 2.8 mm x 6.55 mm x 30 mm. The system has a total of 11520 crystals arranged in 24 detector rings 508 mm in diameter (480 per ring). The field of view (FOV) is 330 mm in diameter x 163 mm, which is sufficient to measure the entire human brain. The diameter of the scanner's opening is equal to the transaxial FOV (330 mm). The system can be operated in three-dimensional (3-D) data acquisition mode, when the slice septa are retracted. The mechanical motions of the gantry and bed are specially designed to measure the patient in various postures; lying, sitting, and even standing postures. The spatial resolution of 2.9 mm in both the transaxial and axial directions is obtained at the center of the FOV. The total system sensitivity is 6.4 kc/s/kBq/ml in two-dimensional (2-D) mode, with a 20-cm-diameter cylindrical phantom. The imaging capabilities of the scanner were studied with the Hoffman brain phantom and with a normal volunteer.