Exploring a promising design for the next generation time-of-flight PET detector

探索下一代飞行时间 PET 探测器的有前途的设计

• 批准号: 10171564
• 负责人: CRAIG S LEVIN
• 金额: $ 51.63万
• 依托单位: STANFORD UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-06-01 至 2024-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10171564
• 关键词: 3-Dimensional; Clinic; Clinical; Collection; Communities; Compton radiation; Coupled; Crystallization; Data; Detection; Digital Signal Processing; Dimensions; Dose; Electronics; Elements; Event; Face; Future; Goals; Hot Spot; Image; Image Enhancement; Imaging Phantoms; Incidence; Lesion; Light; Location; Lutetium; Measurement; Measures; Methods; Noise; Optics; Output; Patients; Performance; Photons; Positioning Attribute; Positron-Emission Tomography; Process; Production; Radiation Dose Unit; Recovery; Research; Resolution; Scanning; Side; Signal Transduction; Silicon; System; Techniques; Technology; Time; Tissues; Tracer; Variant; Visualization; Width; absorption; analog; attenuation; base; cancer imaging; cost effective; data acquisition; design; detector; experimental study; image reconstruction; imaging study; improved; innovation; kinematics; next generation; novel; photomultiplier; photon-counting detector; preservation; prototype; response; scale up; statistics; tomography; tumor molecular fingerprint; uptake

Project Summary/Abstract We propose to study a promising candidate for the next generation time-of-flight (TOF)-positron emission tomography (PET) annihilation photon detector. By enabling significant increases in the reconstructed image signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), TOF-PET has demonstrated substantial clinical impact on the visualization and quantification of molecular signatures of cancer in patients. In particular it has been shown to improve image quality and accuracy in count starved and contrast limited lesion detection scenarios. The effective photon sensitivity boost provided by TOF can also be exploited to significantly reduce injected dose to the patient and/or study duration, factors that would make PET more practical, cost-effective, and safe for a variety of clinical cancer imaging applications. Thus, studies that further advance the TOF-PET technique, and photon sensitivity in general, are highly worthwhile. The key to better TOF-PET performance is to improve the annihilation photon pair coincidence time resolution (CTR) measured between any two detection elements in the system, which has been a focus of research for the past two decades. Current commercially available PET systems achieve a CTR of roughly 350 to 800 ps full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM). A goal of this proposal is to employ a novel scintillation detection configuration in order to achieve 100 ps FWHM CTR, without compromising other important performance parameters. This novel configuration also enables another capability not possible with the conventional PET detector: The ability to measure the energy and three-dimensional (3D) position of one or more annihilation photon interactions in the detector. Owing to the fact that most incoming 511 keV photons undergo inter-crystal Compton scatter in the detectors, we can exploit the kinematics of that process to estimate the photon angle-of-incidence. If successful, that capability enables us to accurately position the first interaction of such multi-crystal events, but also offers the potential to retain a high fraction of photon events that are normally rejected by a conventional PET system, such as single (unpaired) photons, random coincidences, tissue-scatter coincidences, and multiple (>2) photon coincidences. Since these normally-discarded events are over 10-fold more probable than true coincidence events in a standard PET study, this 3D position sensitive detector shows promise as another method to greatly boost photon sensitivity. If successful, this resulting substantial photon sensitivity increase, along with the substantial image SNR enhancement possible with 100 ps CTR would enable PET to be more sensitive, accurate, and practical for cancer imaging. In this project we will design and develop these next-generation detectors, integrate these modules into a prototype partial-ring PET system, and compare image quality and accuracy available with this partial-ring system to a state-of-the-art whole body TOF-PET system currently installed in our imaging clinic.

项目概要/摘要 我们建议研究下一代飞行时间（TOF）正电子发射的有希望的候选者 断层扫描 (PET) 湮没光子探测器。通过显着增加重建 TOF-PET 已证明图像信噪比 (SNR) 和对比度噪声比 (CNR) 对癌症分子特征的可视化和量化具有重大临床影响 患者。特别是，它已被证明可以提高图像质量和计数饥饿和计数的准确性。 对比有限的病变检测场景。 TOF 提供的有效光子灵敏度提升可以 也可用于显着减少患者注射剂量和/或研究持续时间，这些因素 将使 PET 对于各种临床癌症成像更加实用、更具成本效益且安全 应用程序。因此，进一步推进 TOF-PET 技术和光子灵敏度的研究 总体来说，非常值得。更好的TOF-PET性能的关键是提高湮灭 在任意两个检测元件之间测量的光子对重合时间分辨率 (CTR) 系统，是近二十年来研究的热点。目前市售 PET 系统的 CTR 约为 350 至 800 ps 半峰全宽 (FWHM)。以此为目标 建议采用新颖的闪烁检测配置以实现 100 ps FWHM CTR， 不影响其他重要的性能参数。这种新颖的配置还使得 传统 PET 探测器无法实现的另一项功能是：测量能量和 探测器中一个或多个湮灭光子相互作用的三维 (3D) 位置。由于 事实上，大多数传入的 511 keV 光子在探测器中都会经历晶间康普顿散射，我们 可以利用该过程的运动学来估计光子入射角。如果成功的话，那 能力使我们能够准确定位此类多晶事件的首次相互作用，而且还提供 保留大部分通常被传统 PET 拒绝的光子事件的潜力 系统，例如单（不成对）光子、随机巧合、组织散射巧合，以及 多个（>2）光子巧合。由于这些通常被丢弃的事件数量是原来的 10 倍以上 该 3D 位置敏感探测器显示，比标准 PET 研究中的真实巧合事件更可能 有望成为另一种大大提高光子灵敏度的方法。如果成功的话，这将带来巨大的 光子灵敏度提高，图像信噪比 (SNR) 显着增强 (100 ps) CTR 将使 PET 在癌症成像方面更加灵敏、准确和实用。在这个项目中 我们将设计和开发这些下一代探测器，将这些模块集成到原型中 部分环 PET 系统，并比较该部分环系统的图像质量和准确性 我们的影像诊所目前安装了最先进的全身 TOF-PET 系统。

项目成果

Investigation of Electronic Signal Processing Chains for a Prototype TOF-PET System With 100-ps Coincidence Time Resolution.

研究具有 100 ps 重合时间分辨率的原型 TOF-PET 系统的电子信号处理链。

• 发表时间: 2022-07
• 作者: Pourashraf, Shirin;Gonzalez;Lee, Min Sun;Cates, Joshua W;Won, Jun Yeon;Lee, Jae Sung;Levin, Craig S
• 通讯作者: Levin, Craig S

Study of optical reflectors for a 100ps coincidence time resolution TOF-PET detector design.

研究 100ps 重合时间分辨率 TOF-PET 探测器设计的光学反射器。

• 发表时间: 2021-09-15
• 影响因子: 1.4
• 作者: Gonzalez;Pourashraf, Shirin;Lee, Min Sun;Cates, Joshua W;Levin, Craig S
• 通讯作者: Levin, Craig S

Improved single photon time resolution for analog SiPMs with front end readout that reduces influence of electronic noise.

改进了模拟 SiPM 的单光子时间分辨率，前端读出可减少电子噪声的影响。

• 发表时间: 2018-09-19
• 影响因子: 3.5
• 作者: Cates, Joshua W;Gundacker, Stefan;Auffray, Etiennette;Lecoq, Paul;Levin, Craig S
• 通讯作者: Levin, Craig S

Scalable electronic readout design for a 100 ps coincidence time resolution TOF-PET system.

适用于 100 ps 符合时间分辨率 TOF-PET 系统的可扩展电子读出设计。

• 发表时间: 2021
• 影响因子: 3.5
• 作者: Pourashraf, Shirin;Gonzalez;Won, Jun Yeon;Lee, Min Sun;Cates, Joshua W;Zhao, Zhixiang;Lee, Jae Sung;Levin, Craig S
• 通讯作者: Levin, Craig S

Electronics method to advance the coincidence time resolution with bismuth germanate.

电子方法用锗酸铋提高重合时间分辨率。

• 发表时间: 2019
• 影响因子: 3.5
• 作者: Cates, Joshua W;Levin, Craig S
• 通讯作者: Levin, Craig S