Performance Evaluation of an MRI-Compatible Pre-Clinical PET System Using Long Optical Fibers

作者：Mackewn Jane E^*; Halsted Philip; Charles Edwards Geoffrey; Page Richard; Totman John J; Sunassee Kavitha; Strul Daniel; Hallett William A; Jauregui Osoro Maite; Liepins Peter; Williams Steven C R; Schaeffter Tobias; Keevil Stephen F; Marsden Paul K

来源：IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 2010, 57(3): 1052-1062.

DOI：10.1109/TNS.2010.2044891

• Magnetic resonance imaging
• optical fibers
• PET
• small animal imagers

We have designed and constructed an MR-compatible PET system for fully simultaneous PET/MR studies of small animals. The scanner uses long optical fibers to distance the magnetic field sensitive PET PMTs from the high magnetic field at the center of an MR scanner. It is a single slice system with an inner diameter of 7 cm. A full evaluation of the performance of the PET system and the results of an MR compatibility assessment in a Philips Achieva whole body 3 T MRI scanner are presented. The reconstructed resolution of the PET scanner is 1.5 mm at the center falling to 2.5 mm at the edge of the field of view; the system sensitivity is 0.95%; the count rate is linear up to an activity of 6 MBq (similar to 4 kcps) and the scatter fraction is 42% which can be reduced to 26% using MR-compatible gamma shields. Simultaneous PET/MR images of phantoms and a mouse have been acquired. The system is highly MR compatible, as demonstrated here, showing no degradation in performance of either the MR or PET system in the presence of the other modality. The system will be used to demonstrate novel pre-clinical applications of simultaneous PET/MR.