A PET Detector Suitable for Low-Dose Imaging

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) constitutes the imaging modality of excellence in nuclear medicine since it provides accurate functional information of processes occurring within the patient body. However, there are some limitations to further extend its use. One of the main barriers that limits the use of PET is the requirement of injecting radiation compounds (i.e., radiotracers) to the patient.Recent developments in PET instrumentation have focused on reducing the dose injected to the patient without impacting the reconstructed image quality (low-dose PET) through an increased effective sensitivity. The sensitivity boost can be reached by either increasing the geometric coverage (total-body PET), enabling time-of-flight (TOF) capabilities, or placing the detectors closer to the area under study (dedicated-PET).In the following we describe and experimentally evaluate a detector design based on semi-monolithic scintillators, which is suitable for the three mentioned options to increase sensitivity. Moreover, simulations of PET scanners constructed using this detector are presented demonstrating the advantages provided by reaching a superior sensitivity.