Performance of a PET Insert for High Resolution Small Animal PET/MR Imaging at 7T

Abstract

We present the characterization of a compact magnetic resonance (MR) compatible positron emission tomography (PET) insert for simultaneous pre-clinical PET/MR imaging. While specifically designed with the strict size constraint to fit inside the 114 mm inner diameter of the BGA-12S gradient coil used in the Bruker 70/20 and 94/20 series of small animal MR imaging (MRI) systems, the insert can be easily installed in any appropriate MRI scanner or used as a stand-alone PET system. Methods: The insert is made from a ring of 16 detector-blocks each made from depth-of-interaction capable dual-layer-offset arrays of cerium-doped lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate crystals read out by silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays. Scintillator crystal arrays are made from 22×10 / 21×9 crystals in the bottom/top layers with 6/4 mm layer thicknesses, arranged with a 1.27 mm pitch, resulting in a useable field of view (FOV) 28 mm long and ~55 mm wide. Results: Spatial resolution ranges from 1.17 to 1.86 mm full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) in the radial direction from a radial offset of 0 to 15 mm. With a 300-800 keV energy window, peak sensitivity is 2.2% and noise-equivalent count rate (NECR) from a mouse-sized phantom at 3.7 MBq is 11.1 kcps and peaks at 20.8 kcps at 14.5 MBq. Phantom imaging shows that feature sizes as low as 0.7 mm can be resolved. ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) PET/MR images of mouse and rat brains show no signs of inter-modality interference, and can excellently resolve substructures within the brains. Conclusion: Due to excellent spatial resolvability and lack of intermodality interference, this PET insert will serve as a useful tool for pre-clinical PET/MR.