Performance evaluation of a small animal PET scanner a high level of multiplexing and charge-signal transmission.

Small animal positron emission tomography (PET) is a noninvasive imaging modality that enables in vivo imaging and quantification of the biological processes of small experimental animals. We have developed a small animal PET that utilizes a high-resolution multiplexed readout and charge signal transmission (CST) method. The small animal PET was composed of six detector blocks consisting of SiPMs and LYSO arrays. Six detector blocks were mounted on a PET gantry having an inner diameter of 76 mm, outer diameter of 112 mm, and axial length of 40.8 mm. The charge signals of SiPM output were transmitted to the input of multiplexed readout using 4 m flexible flat cables. The multiplexed readout was composed of six main boards, each of which included 36 detector boards, to reduce the number of readout channels by a factor of 36, with a multiplexing ratio of 144:4. The performance of the small animal PET was evaluated using NEMA NU 4-2008 standards, and its imaging capability was demonstrated by in vivo mouse imaging studies. The average energy and time resolutions were 13.2% ± 0.3% and 3.8 ns, respectively. The spatial resolution at the center of the transaxial FOV was 1.1 mm, and the peak sensitivity at the center of the axial FOV was 1.5%. The peak noise equivalent count (NEC) rate and scatter fraction were 21.1 kcps at 18.2 MBq and 21%, respectively. The acquired images demonstrated high quality tracer uptake patterns of small experimental animals. The results of performance evaluation and animal imaging indicate that the small animal PET developed in this study can provide high-quality small animal imaging with cost-effectiveness and compactness.

Analog and digital signal processing method using multi-time-over-threshold and FPGA for PET.

PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to develop an analog and digital signal processing method using multi-time-over-threshold (MTOT) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to extract PET event information by using the internal clock of FPGA (~350 MHz), without ADC and TDC. METHODS: The PET detector modules were composed of a 4 × 4 matrix of 3 × 3 × 20 mm3 LYSO and 4 × 4 SiPM array. Output charge signals of PET detector modules were amplified and fed into four comparators to generate trigger signals. The energy of the detected gamma ray was calculated by integrating the digitized pulse and the arrival time was determined from the time stamp of the lowest trigger signal by FPGA. The data packet containing energy, time, and position information was stored in list mode on the host computer. RESULTS: The performance of analog and digital signal processing circuits using MTOT method and FPGA was evaluated by measuring energy and time resolution of the proposed method and the values were 19% and 900 ps, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that the proposed MTOT method consisting of only FPGA without ADC and TDC could provide a simple and cost-effective analog and digital signal processing system for PET.