ADVANCED POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPH PHYSICS DESIGN

THIS PROJECT WILL FACILITATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A POWERFUL, ULTRA-HIGH-RESOLUTION WHOLE-BODY POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHIC (PET) SCANNER, WHICH IS ENVISIONED TO HAVE 2.5-MM IN-PLANE RESOLUTION, 7.5-MM AXIAL RESOLUTION, A 16-CM AXIAL FIELD OF VIEW, 3-DIMENSIONAL VOLUME SAMPLING, AND A SYSTEM SENSITIVITY OF AT LEAST 200,000 COUNTS/SEC/MICROCI/CC. AN IMAGING SYSTEM OF THIS TYPE WILL HAVE IMPROVED CLINICAL APPLICATIONS IN THE AREAS OF CARDIOLOGY, NEUROLOGY, AND ONCOLOGY. THE SPECIFIC AIMS OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO DESIGN THE DETECTION SYSTEM PHYSICS THAT WILL SUPPORT THE ABOVE PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS, TO FOCUS ON THE DESIGN OF THE FUNDAMENTAL MODULARIZED DETECTOR UNIT, TO EVALUATE TWO CANDIDATE INNOVATIVE DETECTOR ENCODING SCHEMES FOR FUNCTIONALITY AND PRODUCIBILITY, TO BUILD TWO PROTOTYPE DETECTOR MODULES, AND TO FULLY EVALUATE THEIR PHYSICAL AND FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS. THESE PROJECT GOALS WILL BE ACHIEVED IN FIVE PHASES: (1) CONCEPTUAL DESIGN, (2) COMPUTER MODELING AND DESIGN REFINEMENT, (3) GENERATION OF A COMPREHENSIVE MECHANICAL AND ASSEMBLY SPECIFICATION, (4) PROTOTYPE IMPLEMENTATION, AND (5) EXTENSIVE BENCH TESTING.