Reprogrammable Acquisition Architecture for Dedicated Positron Emission Tomography

Abstract

We have developed a flexible, cost-efficient PET architecture adaptable to different applications and system geometries, such as positron emission mammography (PEM) and in-beam PET for dose delivery monitoring (ibPET). The acquisition system has been used to implement modularized dual planar detectors with very low front-end dead time, as required in PEM or in ibPET. The flexibility is obtained thanks to the FPGA-based, reprogrammable, TDC-less coincidence processor. The final goal is to propose an effective acquisition methodology and the construction of a compact, low-cost instrument able to provide early diagnosis and to improve the effectiveness of follow-up studies for smaller tumours with respect to those studied with present clinical equipment (e.g., whole-body PET, SPECT, or scintigraphy).