RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Performance Characteristics of the NeuroEXPLORER, a Next-Generation Human Brain PET/CT Imager
JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine
JO J Nucl Med
FD Society of Nuclear Medicine
SP jnumed.124.267767
DO 10.2967/jnumed.124.267767
A1 Li, Hongdi
A1 Badawi, Ramsey D.
A1 Cherry, Simon R.
A1 Fontaine, Kathryn
A1 He, Liuchun
A1 Henry, Shannan
A1 Hillmer, Ansel T.
A1 Hu, Lingzhi
A1 Khattar, Nikkita
A1 Leung, Edwin K.
A1 Li, Tiantian
A1 Li, Yusheng
A1 Liu, Chi
A1 Liu, Peng
A1 Lu, Zhenrui
A1 Majewski, Stanislaw
A1 Matuskey, David
A1 Morris, Evan D.
A1 Mulnix, Tim
A1 Omidvari, Negar
A1 Samanta, Suranjana
A1 Selfridge, Aaron
A1 Sun, Xishan
A1 Toyonaga, Takuya
A1 Volpi, Tommaso
A1 Zeng, Tianyi
A1 Jones, Terry
A1 Qi, Jinyi
A1 Carson, Richard E.
YR 2024
UL http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/early/2024/06/13/jnumed.124.267767.abstract
AB The collaboration of Yale, the University of California, Davis, and United Imaging Healthcare has successfully developed the NeuroEXPLORER, a dedicated human brain PET imager with high spatial resolution, high sensitivity, and a built-in 3-dimensional camera for markerless continuous motion tracking. It has high depth-of-interaction and time-of-flight resolutions, along with a 52.4-cm transverse field of view (FOV) and an extended axial FOV (49.5 cm) to enhance sensitivity. Here, we present the physical characterization, performance evaluation, and first human images of the NeuroEXPLORER. Methods: Measurements of spatial resolution, sensitivity, count rate performance, energy and timing resolution, and image quality were performed adhering to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) NU 2-2018 standard. The system’s performance was demonstrated through imaging studies of the Hoffman 3-dimensional brain phantom and the mini-Derenzo phantom. Initial 18F-FDG images from a healthy volunteer are presented. Results: With filtered backprojection reconstruction, the radial and tangential spatial resolutions (full width at half maximum) averaged 1.64, 2.06, and 2.51 mm, with axial resolutions of 2.73, 2.89, and 2.93 mm for radial offsets of 1, 10, and 20 cm, respectively. The average time-of-flight resolution was 236 ps, and the energy resolution was 10.5%. NEMA sensitivities were 46.0 and 47.6 kcps/MBq at the center and 10-cm offset, respectively. A sensitivity of 11.8% was achieved at the FOV center. The peak noise-equivalent count rate was 1.31 Mcps at 58.0 kBq/mL, and the scatter fraction at 5.3 kBq/mL was 36.5%. The maximum count rate error at the peak noise-equivalent count rate was less than 5%. At 3 iterations, the NEMA image-quality contrast recovery coefficients varied from 74.5% (10-mm sphere) to 92.6% (37-mm sphere), and background variability ranged from 3.1% to 1.4% at a contrast of 4.0:1. An example human brain 18F-FDG image exhibited very high resolution, capturing intricate details in the cortex and subcortical structures. Conclusion: The NeuroEXPLORER offers high sensitivity and high spatial resolution. With its long axial length, it also enables high-quality spinal cord imaging and image-derived input functions from the carotid arteries. These performance enhancements will substantially broaden the range of human brain PET paradigms, protocols, and thereby clinical research applications.