High Timing Resolution Detector Module for Time-of-Flight PET

用于飞行时间 PET 的高定时分辨率探测器模块

• 批准号: 7472119
• 负责人: WOON-SENG CHOONG
• 金额: $ 25.31万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIF-LAWRENC BERKELEY LAB
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-04-01 至 2010-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7472119
• 关键词: Amplifiers; Anodes; Back; Body Size; Cancerous; Cerium; Characteristics; Clinical; Computer Simulation; Coupling; Detection; Development; Diagnostic; Dose; Evaluation; Future; Glues; Goals; Image; Individual; LSO crystal; Lead; Length; Lesion; Light; Lutetium; Measurement; Measures; Modeling; Motivation; Noise; One-Step dentin bonding system; Output; Performance; Phase; Photons; Polishes; Positron; Positron-Emission Tomography; Property; Reading; Resolution; Signal Transduction; Surface Properties; Technology; Time; Tube; Variant; base; body system; design; design and construction; detector; image reconstruction; improved; next generation; photomultiplier; research study; simulation; size; tool

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Whole-body positron emission tomography (PET) imaging has become an important diagnostic tool for accurately determining the status of primary and metastatic cancerous lesions of many organ systems. However, current clinical PET scanners have approached the limit of sensitivity. There is an increasing need to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in PET, which will lead to better lesion detection, shorter imaging time, and/or lower injected dose. The improvement can be obtained by improving the coincidence timing resolution in the detection of the two back-to-back 511 keV photons from the positron annihilation in PET so that time-of-flight information can be incorporated into the image reconstruction. Time-of-flight PET (TOF PET) holds the only known potential for a significant reduction in the noise levels. The goal of this project is to develop a practical detector module with superior timing resolution than currently available, without compromising its efficiency for detecting 511 keV photons for application in TOF PET. Critical improvements in the development of the detector module include an appropriate scintillator material (LSO) for TOF PET, a multi-anode microchannel plate photomultiplier tube (MCP PMT) technology as the photodetector, and one-to-one coupling of an array of scintillator crystals to the multi-anode MCP PMT. Although the new cerium-doped halide scintillator material (LaBr3) with higher light output and slightly faster decay time than LSO might be a better choice of scintillator material to produce better timing resolution in the detector module, it has much lower stopping power and photoelectric fraction than LSO, which degrades the efficiency of the detector module. Furthermore, the detector technology we propose to develop can be applied to other scintillator materials with outstanding potential for TOF PET that are being currently investigated or will be discovered in the future. The feasibility of the proposed detector module will be thoroughly characterized through the phases of design, construction, optimization, and performance evaluation. The contribution of the detector module will also be modeled through computer simulation and validated by the experimental measurement. The resulting detector module is expected to provide the excellent timing properties needed for improving the imaging performance of next generation PET scanners by enabling TOF.

描述（由申请人提供）：全身正电子发射断层扫描（PET）成像已成为准确确定许多器官系统的原发性和转移性癌性病变状态的重要诊断工具。然而，目前的临床PET扫描仪已经接近灵敏度的极限。人们越来越需要提高 PET 的信噪比，这将导致更好的病变检测、更短的成像时间和/或更低的注射剂量。这种改进可以通过提高 PET 中正电子湮灭产生的两个背对背 511 keV 光子的检测中的重合定时分辨率来实现，从而可以将飞行时间信息纳入图像重建中。飞行时间 PET (TOF PET) 拥有唯一已知的显着降低噪声水平的潜力。该项目的目标是开发一种实用的探测器模块，该探测器模块具有比现有探测器更高的定时分辨率，同时不影响其探测 TOF PET 中应用的 511 keV 光子的效率。探测器模块开发中的关键改进包括适用于 TOF PET 的闪烁体材料 (LSO)、作为光电探测器的多阳极微通道板光电倍增管 (MCP PMT) 技术，以及闪烁体晶体阵列与多阳极 MCP PMT 的一对一耦合。尽管新的掺铈卤化物闪烁体材料（LaBr3）具有比 LSO 更高的光输出和稍快的衰减时间，可能是在探测器模块中产生更好的定时分辨率的更好的闪烁体材料选择，但它的阻止本领和光电分数比 LSO 低得多，这降低了探测器模块的效率。此外，我们建议开发的探测器技术可以应用于目前正在研究或将来发现的具有 TOF PET 巨大潜力的其他闪烁体材料。所提出的探测器模块的可行性将通过设计、构造、优化和性能评估阶段进行彻底表征。探测器模块的贡献也将通过计算机模拟进行建模，并通过实验测量进行验证。由此产生的探测器模块预计将提供卓越的定时特性，通过启用 TOF 来提高下一代 PET 扫描仪的成像性能。