Research ArticlePhysics and Instrumentation

Development and Evaluation of mini-EXPLORER: A Long Axial Field-of-View PET Scanner for Nonhuman Primate Imaging

Eric Berg, Xuezhu Zhang, Julien Bec, Martin S. Judenhofer, Brijesh Patel, Qiyu Peng, Maciej Kapusta, Matthias Schmand, Michael E. Casey, Alice F. Tarantal, Jinyi Qi, Ramsey D. Badawi and Simon R. Cherry
Journal of Nuclear Medicine June 2018, 59 (6) 993-998; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2967/jnumed.117.200519

Article Figures & Data

Figures

  • FIGURE 1.
    FIGURE 1.

    (A) Side view of scanner with covers removed showing gantry frame, detector rings, and scanner electronics. (B) View inside detector rings showing detectors mounted between tapered aluminum rails. (C) View from front of scanner with covers on and scanning bed installed.

  • FIGURE 2.
    FIGURE 2.

    Axial NEMA NU-2 sensitivity profiles (2-mm axial slices) obtained with 46° acceptance angle.

  • FIGURE 3.
    FIGURE 3.

    NEMA NU-4 monkey scatter phantom count rate performance. (A) True-, scatter-, and random-coincidence rates measured with 46° acceptance angle. (B) NECR vs. activity for each acceptance angle. (C) Scatter fraction vs. activity for each acceptance angle.

  • FIGURE 4.
    FIGURE 4.

    (A) Transaxial (left) and sagittal (right) image slices of reconstructed uniform cylinder. (B) Radial line profile through average of all transaxial image slices (left) and average image pixel value inside uniform cylinder for each axial slice (right).

  • FIGURE 5.
    FIGURE 5.

    Reconstructed point-source spatial resolution vs. radial offset.

  • FIGURE 6.
    FIGURE 6.

    Transaxial slice of Derenzo phantom reconstructed image.

  • FIGURE 7.
    FIGURE 7.

    Maximum-intensity-projection images from 18F-FDG rhesus monkey study: 1-s frame at 5 s after injection (reconstructed using kernel method (37)) (A), 0–30 s after injection (B), 55–60 min after injection (C), and 18 h after injection (40-min scan) (D). Further images are provided as Supplemental Figure 4 and Supplemental Videos 1–6.

Tables

  • TABLE 1

    Physical Characteristics of mini-EXPLORER

    ParameterDescription
    PhotodetectorPhotomultiplier tube
    ScintillatorLutetium oxyorthosilicate
    Crystal pitch4 × 4 × 20 mm
    Total number of crystals32,448
    Detector ring diameter43.5 cm
    Transaxial FOV32.0 cm
    Axial FOV45.7 cm
  • TABLE 2

    Physical Performance of mini-EXPLORER

    ParameterAcceptance angle
    14°27°37°46°
    NU-2 sensitivity (%)2.44.04.85.0
    NU-4 peak monkey NECR (kcps)8951,4661,7071,741
    NU-4 scatter fraction (%)15.616.116.416.5
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