LabPET II, an APD-based PET Detector Module with Counting CT Imaging Capability

CT imaging is currently the standard modality to provide anatomical reference in PET molecular imaging. Since both PET and CT rely on detecting radiation to generate images, it would make sense to use the same detection system for data acquisition. Merging PET and CT hardware imposes stringent requirements on detectors, including wide dynamic range with high signal-to-noise ratio for good energy resolution in both modalities, high pixellisation for high spatial resolution, and very high count rate capabilities. The APD-based LabPET II module is proposed as the building block for a truly combined PET/CT scanner. The module is made of two 4 x 8 APD pixel monolithic arrays mounted side by side unto a custom ceramic holder, with each element having an active area of 1.1 x 1.1 mm(2) at a 1.2 mm pitch, coupled to a 12-mm high LYSO scintillator block array. While a previous version of the module was made of pyramidal shaped crystals (1.35 x 1.35 / 1.2 x 1.2 mm(2), top/bottom), a recent version was designed with a simpler rectangular geometry (1.2 x 1.2 mm(2)), better reflective material optimizing the shift of refractive index at crystal interface, and enhanced APD quantum efficiency to improve intrinsic detector performance. Mean energy resolution was improved to 20 +/- 1 % (formerly 24 +/- 1%) at 511 keV and to 41 +/- 4% (formerly 48 +/- 3%) at 60 keV. These intrinsic detector performance characteristics make the LabPET II module suitable for counting CT imaging with efficient energy discrimination. Initial phantom images obtained from a CT test bench demonstrated excellent contrast linearity as a function of material density and spatial resolution of 0.61 mm FWHM / 1.1 mm FWTM, corresponding to 1.3 lp/mm at MTF10% / 0.73 lp/mm at MTF50%, which allowed 0.75 mm air holes in an Ultra Micro resolution phantom to be clearly distinguished.