Washington University

Ke Li

Yuan-Chuan Tai

Joseph A O'Sullivan

Jie Wen

Qiang Wang

Aswin John Mathews

A positron emission tomography (PET) technique that can enhance the image resolution and system sensitivity of a clinical PET/CT scanner for imaging a whole body or a target region of a subject is provided. The system includes a detector array and a detector panel. The detector array includes an array of gamma ray detectors defining a field of view of a scanner and configured to detect at least one coincidence event. The detector panel includes an array of gamma ray detectors having a higher intrinsic spatial resolution than the detector array and positioned in closer proximity to a patient table than the detector array. The detector panel is positioned outside the field of view defined by the detector array during at least a portion of scanning by the PET system. The detector panel is configured to detect at least one coincidence event in cooperation with the detector array. The control unit is configured to control the detector array, the detector panel, and the patient bed to operate in cooperation with each other.

Methods and apparatus for improving the image resolution and sensitivity of whole-body positron emission tomography (PET) imaging

A positron emission tomography (PET) system is provided. The system includes a first detector panel including a first array of detectors, a second detector panel including a second array of detectors, said second detector panel being moveable relative to a point between the first detector panel and the second detector panel, a tracking system configured to detect a position of said second detector panel relative to the first detector panel while imaging a subject, a computing device in communication with the first detector panel, the second detector panel, and the tracking system, the computing device configured to receive coincidence data from the first and second detector panels, receive position data from the tracking system, wherein each coincidence datum of the received coincidence data is associated with a unique position datum of the received position data, and reconstruct a plurality of images based on the received coincidence data and the received position data.

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St. Louis, MO, United States of America

Ke Li