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

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.2646-2651
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• 2021

A rectangular-shaped PET system with an adjustable gantry (AGPET) has been developed for imaging small animals. The AGPET system employs a new depth of interaction (DOI) method using a depth dependent reflector patterns and a new digital time pickoff method based on the pulse reconstruction method. To evaluate the performance of the AGPET, timing resolution, intrinsic spatial resolution and point source images were acquired. The timing resolution and intrinsic spatial resolution were measured using two detector modules and Na-22 gamma source. The PET images were acquired in two field of view (FOV) sizes, 30 mm and 90 mm, to demonstrate the characteristic of the AGPET. As a result of in the experiment results, the timing resolution was 0.9 ns using the pulse reconstruction method based on the bi-exponential model. The intrinsic spatial resolution was an average of 1.7 mm and the spatial resolution of PET images after DOI correction was 2.08 mm and 2.25 mm at the centers of 30 mm and 90 mm FOV, respectively. The results show that the proposed AGPET system provided higher sensitivity and resolution for small animal imaging.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.131-139
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• 2004

Small animal models are extensively utilized in the study of biomedical sciences. Current animal experiments and analysis are largely restricted to in vitro measurements and need to sacrifice animals to perform tissue or molecular analysis. This prevents researchers from observing in vivo the natural evolution of the process under study. Imaging techniques can provide repeatedly in vivo anatomic and molecular information noninvasively. Small animal imaging systems have been developed to assess biological process in experimental animals and increasingly employed in the field of molecular imaging studies. This review outlines the current developments in nuclear medicine imaging instrumentations including fused multi-modality imaging systems for small animal imaging.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.53-60
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• 2012

The aim of this study was to explore the spatial and energy resolutions of a PET scanner that we have recently developed. The scanner, which consists of six detector modules with 1-layer LGSO crystals, has a hexagonal configuration with a faceto- face distance of 86.4 mm between two opposite PET modules; such properties facilitate the imaging of small animals. A $^{22}Na$ point source was employed to estimate horizontal and vertical spatial resolutions. To assess the energy resolution, a uniform $^{18}F$ cylindrical phantom was scanned. A software-based spectrum analysis of list-mode data was used to assign a local energy window centered on the photopeak position for every single crystal. For the image reconstruction, an ML-EM algorithm was used. The spatial resolutions at the center of the scanner were 0.99 mm in the horizontal direction and 1.13 mm in the vertical direction. The energy resolution averaged over each PMT ranged from 13.3%-14.3%, which gave an average value of 13.8%. These results show that this simple system is promising for small animal imaging with excellent spatial and energy resolutions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2023

Among imaging and treatment devices for small animals, positron emission tomography(PET) causes a change in spatial resolution within a field of view. This is a phenomenon caused by using a small gantry and a thin and long scintillation pixel, and detectors that measure the interaction depth are being developed and researched to solve this problem. In this study, a detector that measures the interaction depth was designed using several scintillator blocks and light guides with different reflector patterns. The scintillator block composed of 4 × 4 arrays of 3 mm × 3 mm × 5 mm scintillation pixels formed four layers, and a light guide was inserted in each layer to configure the entire detector. In order to check whether the interaction depth was measured, a gamma ray interaction was generated at the center of all scintillation pixels to acquire data and then reconstructed into a flood image. The reflector patterns of the light guides inserted between the layers were all different, so the positions of the scintillation pixels for each layer were formed in different locations. It is considered that even spatial resolution can be achieved over all regions of the field of view if all positions of the scintillation pixels thus formed are separated and used for image reconstruction.