Advanced thin-slab TOF-PET detector module for next generation of brain PET

摘要(30行) 众所周知，美国人寿命的延长导致脑部疾病患病率的增加 和精神疾病，痴呆症和阿尔茨海默氏症对医疗保健系统构成了重大挑战。 因为脑正电子发射断层扫描(PET)是一种强大的临床研究和非侵入性工具 研究脑部疾病和金属障碍的基本机制，有望发挥作用 在应对这一挑战方面发挥重要作用。然而，目前的脑PET技术仅限于相对 低灵敏度和低空间分辨率，限制了它在这种情况下的用途。因此，有一个 迫切需要提高脑部PET的定量成像性能。为应付这方面的需要，我们建议 开发先进的探测器模块和相关算法，特别是利用 飞行时间(TOF)探测器技术。这些模块将为后续项目奠定基础 研制超高性能专用全脑TOF-PET相机(Brain PET EXPLORER) 研究和临床工作。该设备将克服当前的技术缺陷，通过提供 在有效灵敏度和更高的空间分辨率成像方面比最新的 先进的脑PET系统(NeuroEXPLORER于2022年投入使用)。改进的关键因素 TOF-PET的性能是更好的符合时间分辨率(CTR-到达 两个湮没光子)，使得能够准确定位湮灭事件的响应线。我们的 研究具有创新性，因为此概念验证提案的目标是构建和演示以下内容 新的先进的薄板式TOF-PET探测器模块，并确定它们是否适合全面放大 Brain PET探索者(未来工作)。这些探测器模块将建立CTR&lt；100ps半高宽性能， 在有效灵敏度和出色的3D事件定位方面实现8倍提升(与当前 最先进的扫描仪)，成本更低。有效灵敏度最高可提高2倍 通过准确确定湮没光子的第一相互作用点来实现 康普顿散布在探测器区块之间。有效灵敏度的总体&gt；提高8倍可用于 减少患者体内放射性示踪剂的活度，缩短检查时间，增加空间 在动态脑-PET成像中，提高分辨率或提高时间分辨率。所有这些因素都将使 Brain-PET是一种更有用、更具成本效益、更实惠的研究和临床工具。这种创新的到来 脑PET技术将有助于解决日益普遍的大脑疾病和精神疾病面临的 美国人口老龄化。 2.

ABSTRACT (30 lines) It is well established that the increasing lifespan in the US is leading to increased prevalence of brain diseases and mental illnesses, with dementia and Alzheimer’s posing significant challenges to the healthcare system. Because brain Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a powerful noninvasive tool for clinical studies and research on fundamental mechanisms of brain maladies and metal disorders, it is expected to play an important role in addressing this challenge. However, current brain PET technologies are limited with relatively low sensitivity and low spatial resolution, constraining its usefulness in this context. Consequently, there is a critical need to improve quantitative imaging performance of brain PET. To address this need, we propose to develop advanced detector modules and associated algorithms, leveraging in particular recent progress in time-of-flight (TOF) detector technologies. These modules will lay the foundation for a follow-on project to develop an ultra-high-performance dedicated whole-brain TOF-PET camera (BRAIN PET EXPLORER) for research and clinical work. This device will overcome the current technology shortcomings by providing substantial gain in effective sensitivity and much higher spatial resolution imaging over the most current advanced brain PET system (NeuroEXPLORER commissioned in 2022). The crucial factor for improved performance of TOF-PET is better coincidence time resolution (CTR - time difference between arrival of the two annihilation photons) enabling accurate localization of the annihilation event a line-of-response. Our research is innovative because the goal of this proof-of-concept proposal is to build and demonstrate these novel and advanced thin-slab TOF-PET detector modules, and establish their suitability for scale up in a full BRAIN PET EXPLORER (future work). These detector modules will establish CTR <100 ps FWHM performance, enabling an 8× gain in effective sensitivity and outstanding 3D event localization (compared to the current state-of-art scanners) at reduced cost. An additional factor of up to 2× boost in effective sensitivity is expected to be achieved by accurate determination of the point-of-first-interaction for annihilation photons that undergo Compton scatter between detector blocks. The overall > 8× increase in the effective sensitivity can be used to reduce the activity of radiotracer administered to the patient, reduce the examination duration, increase spatial resolution, or increase the temporal resolution in dynamic brain-PET imaging. All these factors will make the brain-PET a more useful, cost-effective and affordable research and clinical tool. The advent of such innovative brain PET technology will help address growing prevalence of brain diseases and mental illnesses facing the aging population of the US. 2