University of Pennsylvania

Suleman Surti

Joel Karp

Provided are time-of-flight positron emission tomography devices comprising a detector array having at least two segments configured to accommodate a body part and to acquire tracer emission signals from a target within an imaging situs with a timing resolution of less than about 600 ps and a processor that receives the acquired signals from the detector array and converts the signals into a three dimensional image reconstruction of the target.

Limited angle tomography with time-of-flight PET

A Lanthanum Halide scintillator (for example LaCland LaBr) with fast decay time and good timing resolution, as well as high light output and good energy resolution, is used in the design of a PET scanner. The PET scanner includes a cavity for accepting a patient and a plurality of PET detector modules arranged in an approximately cylindrical configuration about the cavity. Each PET detector includes a Lanthanum Halide scintillator having a plurality of Lanthanum Halide crystals, a light guide, and a plurality of photomultiplier tubes arranged respectively peripherally around the cavity. The good timing resolution enables a time-of-flight (TOF) PET scanner to be developed that exhibits a reduction in noise propagation during image reconstruction and a gain in the signal-to-noise ratio. Such a PET scanner includes a time stamp circuit that records the time of receipt of gamma rays by respective PET detectors and provides timing data outputs that are provided to a processor that, in turn, calculates time-of-flight (TOF) of gamma rays through a patient in the cavity and uses the TOF of gamma rays in the reconstruction of images of the patient.

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Philadelphia, PA, United States of America

Suleman Surti