A Next Generation Preclinical PET/EPRI: a PET Subsystem Prototype

Previously we reported a PET detector design aiming for a preclinical PET/EPRI hybrid imaging system for studying tumor hypoxia, capable of sub-millimeter spatial resolution and a 100 mm long axial field-of-view. Based on promising results obtained with the exploratory design, in this work we develop a prototype system consisting of four detector modules in a cylindrical supporting frame that has a 115 mm outer diameter. Each of the detector module contains 8 units, each of which in turn is made of a 12x12 array of 1x1x10 mm ³ LYSO crystals coupled to a 4x4 Hamamatsu MPPC array (14161-3050HS-04). A highly multiplexing readout employing resistor networks and striplines implemented on a 185 mm x 30 mm printed circuit board is used to produce 6 outputs for the entire detector module. The output signals are recorded by using CAEN DT5742 digitizers and processed off-line. We present the preliminary results obtained with the proto-type PET system, and discuss the prospect of a full detector system.