1 School of Biomedical Engineering, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; 2 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China
Abstract：Small animal positron emission tomography (PET) is of great significance in pre-clinical studies such as pharmacokinetics, new drug development, and therapeutic evaluation, but the quantitative accuracy of small animal PET is still limited by the lack of spatial resolution and sensitivity performance of the detector. In order to develop small animal-specific PET detectors with high-performance, this paper proposed a new construction solution with ″small-diameter, large-axial-span″ and used Monte Carlo simulation technology to verify and evaluate the prototype. The designed prototype consists of 60 crystal detection modules divided into five continuous twelve-sided detection rings. The central diameter and axial field of view of the scanner was 102 mm and 125.4 mm, respectively, so it has a maximum photon reception angle of 50.8 degrees. A simulation model of the prototype was established using the GATE platform, and its spatial resolution, counting performance (scatter fraction and noise equivalent count rate), detection sensitivity and imaging quality were pre-evaluated and analyzed. Results showed that the prototype had a spatial resolution of 1.62 mm, a detection sensitivity of 9.26%, a scatter fraction of 20.8, and a noise equivalent count rate of 2256 kcps. The overall performance was similar to that of Siemens Inveon PET system, and the sensitivity and NECR performance was improved by 21.36% and 35.14%, respectively. The simulation results based on the GATE platform showed that the design of “small diameter and large axial field of view” could significantly improve the detection sensitivity of small animal PET systems and was expected to further improve the quantitative accuracy of small animal PET applications.
黄衍超, 朱火彪, 路利军, 冯前进. 基于GATE的小动物PET原型机仿真验证与性能评估[J]. 中国生物医学工程学报, 2020, 39(3): 318-326.
Huang Yanchao, Zhu Huobiao, Lu Lijun, Feng Qianjin. Simulation Verification and Performance Evaluation of Small Animal PET Prototype Using GATE. Chinese Journal of Biomedical Engineering, 2020, 39(3): 318-326.
[1] Rahmim A, Zaidi H. PET versus SPECT: Strengths, limitations and challenges [J]. Nucl Med Commun, 2008, 29(3): 193-207. [2] Rowland DJ, Lewis JS, Welch MJ. Molecular imaging: the application of small animal positron emission tomography [J]. J Cell Biochem, 2002, 87(S39): 110-115. [3] Lecomte R. Technology challenges in small animal PET imaging [J]. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2004, 527(1-2): 157-165. [4] Wernick MN, Aarsvold JN. Emission tomography: the fundamentals of PET and SPECT [M].California:Elsevier, 2004: 215-216 [5] Bloomfield P, Rajeswaran S, Spinks T, et al. The design and physical characteristics of a small animal positron emission tomograph [J]. Phys Med Biol, 1995, 40(6): 1105-1126. [6] Merheb C, Petegnief Y, Talbot J. Full modelling of the MOSAIC animal PET system based on the GATE Monte Carlo simulation code [J]. Phys Med Biol, 2007, 52(3): 563-576. [7] Roldan PS, Chereul E, Dietzel O, et al. Raytest ClearPETTM, a new generation small animal PET scanner [J]. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2007, 571(1-2): 498-501. [8] 朱虹, 刘继国, 罗岚. 小动物 PET 的现状和研究进展 [J]. 中国医疗器械信息, 2013, 19(12): 23-31. [9] Bao Qinan, Newport D, Chen Mu, et al. Performance evaluation of the inveon dedicated PET preclinical tomograph based on the NEMA NU-4 standards [J]. J Nucl Med, 2009, 50(3): 401-408. [10] Yang Yongfeng, Bec J, Zhou Jian, et al. A prototype high-resolution small-animal PET scanner dedicated to mouse brain imaging [J]. J Nucl Med, 2016, 57(7): 1130-1135. [11] Sanaat A, Zafarghandi M, Ay M. Design and performance evaluation of high resolution small animal PET scanner based on monolithic crystal: a simulation study [J]. Journal of Instrumentation, 2019, 14(1): P01005. [12] 邝忠华, 李成, 李兰君, 等. 高分辨率及高灵敏度小动物 PET 研究进展 [J]. 原子核物理评论, 2016, 33(3): 336-344. [13] Jan S, Santin G, Strul D, et al. GATE: A simulation toolkit for PET and SPECT [J]. Phys Med Biol, 2004, 49(19): 4543-4561. [14] National Electrical Manufacturers Association. Performance measurements of small animal positron emission tomographs[EB/OL]. https://www.nema.org/Standards/Pages/Performance-Measurements-of-Small-Animal-Positron-Emission-Tomographs.aspx, 2008-09-29/2019-09-30. [15] Gonias P, Bertsekas N, Karakatsanis N, et al. Validation of a GATE model for the simulation of the Siemens biographTM 6 PET scanner [J]. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2007, 571(1-2): 263-266. [16] Rodríguez-Villafuerte M, Yang Yongfeng, CherrySR. A Monte Carlo investigation of the spatial resolution performance of a small-animal PET scanner designed for mouse brain imaging studies [J]. Phys Med, 2014, 30(1): 76-85. [17] Chung YH, Hwang JY, Baek CH, et al. Monte Carlo simulation of a four-layer DOI detector with relative offset in animal PET [J]. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2011, 626:43-50. [18] Harrison RL, Kaplan MS, Vannoy SD, et al. Positron range and coincidence non-collinearity in SimSET[C]//IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium. Seattle:IEEE, 1999, 3: 1265-1268. [19] Henseler D, Grazioso R, Zhang Nan, et al. SiPM performance in PET applications: An experimental and theoretical analysis[C]//2009 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium (NSS/MIC). Orlando:IEEE, 2009: 1941-1948. [20] Erlandsson K, Esser P, Strand SE, et al. 3D reconstruction for a multi-ring PET scanner by single-slice rebinning and axial deconvolution [J]. Phys Med Biol, 1994, 39(3): 619-629. [21] Defrise M, Kinahan PE, Townsend DW, et al. Exact and approximate rebinning algorithms for 3-D PET data [J]. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 1997, 16(2): 145-158. [22] Lu Lijun, Zhang Houjin, Bian Zhaoying, et al. Validation of a Monte Carlo simulation of the Inveon PET scanner using GATE [J]. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2016, 828:170-175. [23] Moses WW. Fundamental limits of spatial resolution in PET [J]. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2011, 648:S236-S240. [24] Ito M, Hong SJ, Lee JS. Positron emission tomography (PET) detectors with depth-of-interaction (DOI) capability [J]. Biomedical Engineering Letters, 2011, 1(2): 70-81. [25] Heinrichs U, Pietrzyk U, Ziemons K. Design optimization of the PMT-ClearPET prototypes based on simulation studies with GEANT3 [J]. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci, 2003, 50(5): 1428-1432. [26] Wienhard K, Schmand M, Casey M, et al. The ECAT HRRT: performance and first clinical application of the new high resolution research tomograph [J]. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci, 2002, 49(1): 104-110. [27] Salvador S, Huss D, Brasse D. Design of a high performances small animal PET system with axial oriented crystals and DOI capability [J]. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci, 2009, 56(1): 17-23. [28] Chaudhari AJ, Yang Yongfeng, Farrell R, et al. PSPMT/APD hybrid DOI detectors for the PET component of a dedicated breast PET/CT system—A feasibility study [J]. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci, 2008, 55(3): 853-861.
