Brightonix Imaging Inc., Seoul 04782, Republic of Korea.
Sensors (Basel). 2024 Oct 10;24(20):6520. doi: 10.3390/s24206520.
This study presents a novel approach to enhancing the timing performance of dual-ended positron emission tomography (PET) detectors for brain imaging by employing a dual-finishing crystal method. The proposed method integrates both polished and unpolished surfaces within the scintillation crystal block to optimize time-of-flight (TOF) and depth-of-interaction (DOI) resolutions. A dual-finishing detector was constructed using an 8 × 8 LGSO array with a 2 mm pitch, and its performance was compared against fully polished and unpolished crystal blocks. The results indicate that the dual-finishing method significantly improves the timing resolution while maintaining good energy and DOI resolutions. Specifically, the timing resolution achieved with the dual-finishing block was superior, measuring 192.0 ± 12.8 ps, compared to 206.3 ± 9.4 ps and 234.8 ± 17.9 ps for polished and unpolished blocks, respectively. This improvement in timing is crucial for high-performance PET systems, particularly in brain imaging applications where high sensitivity and spatial resolution are paramount.
本研究提出了一种新颖的方法，通过采用双精加工晶体方法来提高用于脑成像的双端正电子发射断层扫描（PET）探测器的定时性能。该方法在闪烁晶体块内集成了抛光和未抛光表面，以优化飞行时间（TOF）和相互作用深度（DOI）分辨率。使用具有 2 毫米间距的 8×8LGSO 阵列构建了一个双精加工探测器，并将其性能与完全抛光和未抛光晶体块进行了比较。结果表明，双精加工方法在保持良好的能量和 DOI 分辨率的同时，显著提高了定时分辨率。具体而言，双精加工块实现的定时分辨率为 192.0 ± 12.8 ps，优于抛光块的 206.3 ± 9.4 ps 和未抛光块的 234.8 ± 17.9 ps。这种定时性能的提高对于高性能 PET 系统至关重要，特别是在需要高灵敏度和空间分辨率的脑成像应用中。
