TY - GEN
T1 - Performance enhancement of the RatCAP awake rat brain PET system
AU - Vaska, P.
AU - Woody, C.
AU - Schlyer, D.
AU - Radeka, V.
AU - O'Connor, P.
AU - Park, S. J.
AU - Pratte, J. F.
AU - Junnarkar, S.
AU - Purschke, M.
AU - Southekal, S.
AU - Stoll, S.
AU - Schiffer, W.
AU - Lee, D.
AU - Neill, J.
AU - Wharton, D.
AU - Myers, N.
AU - Wiley, S.
AU - Kandasamy, A.
AU - Fried, J.
AU - Krishnamoorthy, S.
AU - Kriplani, A.
AU - Maramraju, S.
AU - Lecomte, R.
AU - Fontaine, R.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - The first full prototype of the RatCAP PET system, designed to image the brain of a rat while conscious, has been completed. Initial results demonstrated excellent spatial resolution, 1.8 mm FWHM with filtered backprojection and <1.5 mm FWHM with a Monte Carlo based MLEM method. However, noise equivalent countrate studies indicated the need for better timing to mitigate the effect of randoms. Thus, the front-end ASIC has been redesigned to minimize time walk, an accurate coincidence time alignment method has been implemented, and a variance reduction technique for the randoms is being developed. To maximize the quantitative capabilities required for neuroscience, corrections are being implemented and validated for positron range and photon noncollinearity, scatter (including outside the field of view), attenuation, randoms, and detector efficiency (deadtime is negligible). In addition, a more robust and compact PCI-based optical data acquisition system has been built to replace the original VME-based system while retaining the linux-based data processing and image reconstruction codes. Finally, a number of new animal imaging experiments have been carried out to demonstrate the performance of the RatCAP in real imaging situations, including an F-18 fluoride bone scan, a C-11 raclopride scan, and a dynamic C-11 methamphetamine scan.
AB - The first full prototype of the RatCAP PET system, designed to image the brain of a rat while conscious, has been completed. Initial results demonstrated excellent spatial resolution, 1.8 mm FWHM with filtered backprojection and <1.5 mm FWHM with a Monte Carlo based MLEM method. However, noise equivalent countrate studies indicated the need for better timing to mitigate the effect of randoms. Thus, the front-end ASIC has been redesigned to minimize time walk, an accurate coincidence time alignment method has been implemented, and a variance reduction technique for the randoms is being developed. To maximize the quantitative capabilities required for neuroscience, corrections are being implemented and validated for positron range and photon noncollinearity, scatter (including outside the field of view), attenuation, randoms, and detector efficiency (deadtime is negligible). In addition, a more robust and compact PCI-based optical data acquisition system has been built to replace the original VME-based system while retaining the linux-based data processing and image reconstruction codes. Finally, a number of new animal imaging experiments have been carried out to demonstrate the performance of the RatCAP in real imaging situations, including an F-18 fluoride bone scan, a C-11 raclopride scan, and a dynamic C-11 methamphetamine scan.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=38649083449&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=38649083449&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/NSSMIC.2006.354405
DO - 10.1109/NSSMIC.2006.354405
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:38649083449
SN - 1424405610
SN - 9781424405619
T3 - IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record
SP - 2443
EP - 2446
BT - 2006 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium - Conference Record
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2006 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference and 15th International Workshop on Room-Temperature Semiconductor X- and Gamma-Ray Detectors, Special Focus Workshops, NSS/MIC/RTSD
Y2 - 29 October 2006 through 4 November 2006
ER -