New detectors for positron emission tomography

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Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a powerful diagnostic technique employed in functional medical imaging. Our overall objective is to significantly improve PET imaging to approach its ultimate capability which would provide neuroscientists and oncologists, for example, with superior systems for diagnosing and detecting disease and investigating disease mechanisms. To achieve this goal we will develop a PET system based on liquid xenon (LXe) gamma ray detectors that is significantly superior to existing PET systems in sensitivity and image quality. Higher spatial resolution (sub-mm in three dimensions eliminating parallax errors) and superior energy resolution with suppressed contamination of scattered gammas and random coincidences are achievable in a LXe PET system. To translate the research results into practice, we will evaluate the system in comparison with state-of-the-art commercial PET systems and perform PET measurements. In concert with industrial partners we will develop and plan future LXe PET systems for small animal research and human studies which can be economically commercialized.