Instrumentation for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography

• Published in: Nuclear medicine and molecular imaging Vol. 50; no. 2; pp. 112 - 122
• Main Authors: Ullah, Muhammad Nasir, Pratiwi, Eva, Cheon, Jimin, Choi, Hojong, Yeom, Jung Yeol
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-06-2016; 대한핵의학회
• Subjects: Cardiology; Imaging; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Nuclear Medicine; Oncology; Orthopedics; Radiology; Review; 방사선과학; Timing resolution; Instrumentation; Time of flight; Positron emission tomography
• ISSN: 1869-3474; 1869-3482
• DOI: 10.1007/s13139-016-0401-5

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a molecular imaging modality that provides information at the molecular level. This system is composed of radiation detectors to detect incoming coincident annihilation gamma photons emitted from the radiopharmaceutical injected into a patient’s body and uses these data to reconstruct images. A major trend in PET instrumentation is the development of time-of-flight positron emission tomography (ToF-PET). In ToF-PET, the time information (the instant the radiation is detected) is incorporated for image reconstruction. Therefore, precise and accurate timing recording is crucial in ToF-PET. ToF-PET leads to better localization of the annihilation event and thus results in overall improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the reconstructed image. Several factors affect the timing performance of ToF-PET. In this article, the background, early research and recent advances in ToF-PET instrumentation are presented. Emphasis is placed on the various types of scintillators, photodetectors and electronic circuitry for use in ToF-PET, and their impact on timing resolution is discussed.