The super PET 3000-E: a PET scanner designed for high count rate cardiac applications.

OBJECTIVE

Mathematical models for the delineation of regional myocardial perfusion and metabolism with PET require faithful reconstruction of arterial and myocardial time-activity curves following administration of radiotracers. High temporal resolution is often required in such measurements. Many commercially available tomographs exhibit long dead times that limit their count rate capabilities. To overcome these limitations, we developed and tested a whole-body tomographic device (Super PET 3000-E) with high count rate capabilities. The use of cesium fluoride scintillation detectors coupled with a one-to-one detector photomultiplier configuration reduces the system resolving and dead times.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The Super PET 3000-E was subjected to a series of tests with phantoms to determine its resolution, sensitivity, linearity, count rate capabilities, dead time, and random coincidence contribution.

RESULTS

The system sensitivity is 136 kcounts/s/microCi/ml and its transverse and longitudinal resolutions are 8.5 and 10.5 mm full width at half-maximum, respectively. The system can easily record a total event rate of 2.0 Mcounts/s with minimal dead time loss and excellent linearity.

CONCLUSION

The system fulfills its design goals and allows the very high count rate performance needed for the application of the physiological models used in our cardiac studies.