Novel detector technology for clinical PET

Positron emission tomography (PET) is the most sensitive of all medical imaging modalities for quantitatively probing biologic processes at the molecular level. However, spatial resolution in PET is significantly inferior to that of other imaging modalities that can provide exquisite images of the anatomy, such as X-ray computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. It has been one of the outstanding challenges of the last decade to combine PET with these complementary imaging modalities in order to synergistically exploit the benefits of each modality and to enhance the role of PET in pre-clinical research as well as in clinical routine and research. The simple juxtaposition of tomographs around a common axial bed, such as with current PET/CT technology, is very successful in allowing sequential acquisition of PET and anatomical data. However, novel imaging combinations are being considered that would enable simultaneous, or at least concurrent, dual-modality imaging through combined PET/MR or PET/CT. The development of these new integrated instruments creates new bewildering challenges for PET detection systems, which, in addition to the ability to measure annihilation radiation in PET, must satisfy several other critical requirements.