TY - GEN
T1 - The effect of magnetic field on positron range and spatial resolution in an integrated whole-body time-of-flight PET/MRI system
AU - Huang, Shih Ying
AU - Savic, Dragana
AU - Yang, Jaewon
AU - Shrestha, Uttam
AU - Seo, Youngho
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 IEEE.
PY - 2016/3/10
Y1 - 2016/3/10
N2 - Simultaneous imaging systems combining positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been actively investigated. A PET/MR imaging system (GE Healthcare) comprised of a time-of-flight (TOF) PET system utilizing silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and 3-tesla (3T) MRI was recently installed at our institution. The small-ring (60 cm diameter) TOF PET subsystem of this PET/MRI system can generate images with higher spatial resolution compared with conventional PET systems. We have examined theoretically and experimentally the effect of uniform magnetic fields on the spatial resolution for high-energy positron emitters. Positron emitters including 18F, 124I, and 68Ga were simulated in water using the Geant4 Monte Carlo toolkit in the presence of a uniform magnetic field (0, 3, and 7 Tesla). The positron annihilation position was tracked to determine the 3D spatial distribution of the 511-keV gammy ray emission. The full-width at tenth maximum (FWTM) of the positron point spread function (PSF) was determined. Experimentally, 18F and 68Ga line source phantoms in air and water were imaged with an investigational PET/MRI system and a PET/CT system to investigate the effect of magnetic field on the spatial resolution of PET. The full-width half maximum (FWHM) of the line spread function (LSF) from the line source was determined as the system spatial resolution. Simulations and experimental results show that the in-plane spatial resolution was slightly improved at field strength as low as 3 Tesla, especially when resolving signal from high-energy positron emitters in the air-tissue boundary.
AB - Simultaneous imaging systems combining positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been actively investigated. A PET/MR imaging system (GE Healthcare) comprised of a time-of-flight (TOF) PET system utilizing silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and 3-tesla (3T) MRI was recently installed at our institution. The small-ring (60 cm diameter) TOF PET subsystem of this PET/MRI system can generate images with higher spatial resolution compared with conventional PET systems. We have examined theoretically and experimentally the effect of uniform magnetic fields on the spatial resolution for high-energy positron emitters. Positron emitters including 18F, 124I, and 68Ga were simulated in water using the Geant4 Monte Carlo toolkit in the presence of a uniform magnetic field (0, 3, and 7 Tesla). The positron annihilation position was tracked to determine the 3D spatial distribution of the 511-keV gammy ray emission. The full-width at tenth maximum (FWTM) of the positron point spread function (PSF) was determined. Experimentally, 18F and 68Ga line source phantoms in air and water were imaged with an investigational PET/MRI system and a PET/CT system to investigate the effect of magnetic field on the spatial resolution of PET. The full-width half maximum (FWHM) of the line spread function (LSF) from the line source was determined as the system spatial resolution. Simulations and experimental results show that the in-plane spatial resolution was slightly improved at field strength as low as 3 Tesla, especially when resolving signal from high-energy positron emitters in the air-tissue boundary.
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U2 - 10.1109/NSSMIC.2014.7431006
DO - 10.1109/NSSMIC.2014.7431006
M3 - Conference contribution
C2 - 27076778
AN - SCOPUS:84965034304
T3 - 2014 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, NSS/MIC 2014
BT - 2014 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, NSS/MIC 2014
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, NSS/MIC 2014
Y2 - 8 November 2014 through 15 November 2014
ER -