Development of PET scanners with Compton scattering by plastic scintillators

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16H06238
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Medical Physics and Radiological Technology
• Research Institution: Yamagata University
• Principal Investigator: Nakamori Takeshi 山形大学, 理学部, 准教授 (30531876)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 陽電子断層撮像 / PET / MPPC / コンプトン散乱 / プラスチックシンチレータ / 飛行時間計測

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have develop sensor heads for a positron emission tomography (PET) using Compton scattering at plastic scintillators in order to improve the quality of reconstructed images. By applying plastic scintillators with fast timing characteristic, better resolution of the time-of-flight measurements for annihilation gamma rays. We demonstrated that plastic scintillators showed the better timing resolution in comparison to a conventional inorganic scintillator. We also successfully demonstrated a 3-dimensional position resolution of gamma-ray interaction position by using a technique originally developed for inorganic scintillators. We extended a commercial PET data acquisition system to obtain both the time of flight and the information related to Compton scattering. We demonstrated image reconstruction using this system.

Free Research Field

高エネルギー宇宙物理学、放射線検出器開発

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

PETはがんの早期発見等に有用な機能撮像であるが、空間分解能がCTやMRIに及ばない。そのためPETとCTが併用されることもあり、患者の二重被爆が問題となる。本研究で開発した時間分解能を向上したTime-of-flight型のPETによって画質と空間分解能が向上すると、少ない被曝量で質の高い診断画像を得ることができる。実用化すれば患者の身体的な負担が軽減することが期待される。