Technical Advances in Current PET and Hybrid Imaging Systems

Abstract

The continuing efforts of investigators to achieve the best physical and clinical performances from PET (positron emission tomography) and related hybrid cameras (PET/CT and PET/MRI) have led to remarkable technical advances in hardware and software. Time of flight (TOF) information measurement, which has been enabled thanks to the invention of fast, heavy crystals and advances in fast light detection sensors and readout electronics, is used to obtain the PET images of better quality and lesion-detection performance. Statistical reconstruction with resolution recovery and measurements of depth of interaction (DOI) are the useful softwareand hardware-wise approaches for enhancing the spatial resolution of reconstructed PET images. These technical advances along with an expansive increase in the number of PET and PET/CT examinations performed are facilitating the widespread use of PET scanners with specific detector structures and arrangements for particular applications or organs. Combined multimodal imaging systems are also in the development mainstream of these