• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.65-71
• /
• 2024

To achieve high resolution and sensitivity of positron emission tomography (PET) for small animals, the detector is constructed using very thin and long scintillation pixels. Due to the structure of these scintillation pixels, spatial resolution deterioration occurs outside the system's field of view. To solve this problem, we designed a detector that could improve spatial resolution by measuring the interaction depth and improve sensitivity by using a quasi-block scintillator. A quasi-block scintillator size of 12.6 mm x 12.6 mm x 3 mm was arranged in four layers, and optical sensors were placed on all sides to collect light generated by the interaction between gamma rays and the scintillator. DETECT2000 simulation was performed to evaluate the performance of the designed detector. Flood images were acquired by generating gamma-ray events at 1 mm intervals from 1.3 mm to 11.3 mm within the scintillator of each layer. The spatial resolution and peak-to-peak distance for each location were measured in an 11 x 11 array of flood images. The average measured spatial resolution was 0.25 mm, and the average distance between peaks was 1.0 mm. Through this, it was confirmed that all locations were separated from each other. In addition, because the light signals of all layers were measured separately from each other, the layer of the scintillator that interacted with the gamma rays could be completely separated. When the designed detector is used as a detector in a PET system for small animals, it is considered that excellent spatial resolution and sensitivity can be achieved and image quality can be improved.