On-Detector Electronics of the Clear PEM Scanner.

A Portuguese consortium has developed a PET scanner dedicated to breast cancer detection (Clear-PEM scanner) within the framework of the international Crystal Clear Collaboration at CERN. In the construction of this scanner several challenges have been addressed, from the design of the photon’s detector, front-end electronics and data acquisition systems up to the image reconstruction algorithms. In this paper we describe the development of the electronics in the detector heads needed to read-out and filter the data from 12288 detector channels, as well as to provide regulated high-voltages, low voltage power and control signals, and also to monitor the environment in the detector heads. The scanner is currently in its final phase of integration and will soon be installed in the department of Nuclear Medicine of Hospital Garcia de Orta and Instituto Português de Oncologia (Porto) were clinical trials will be conducted.