Commissioning a Cost-Effective TB-PET with TOF and DOI: the IMAS Project

Total-Body Positron Emission Tomography (TB-PET) technology and designs have become very popular in recent years. The advantages of these systems are many, pinpointing the high sensitivity achieved by their long axial FOV and eventually TOF, and the capabilities to simultaneously study the kinetics of multiple organs. Most of TB-PET designs and implementations are based on LYSO crystal pixels without DOI. In this work we present a TB-PET system based on semi-monolithic crystals and, therefore, simultaneously enabling TOF and depth of interaction capabilities. Furthermore, the design named IMAS, makes use of a reduction of signals without compromising performance. We have completed exhaustive simulation studies of the final system geometry, based on 5 rings of 10 cm in the axial direction each, and gaps of about 5 cm, with a total axial length of 71.4 cm. These studies confirm the good performance of the system in terms of spatial resolution, sensitivity and other relevant parameters. Moreover, these days, the full system is being installed at the largest hospital in our region. Very preliminary experimental tests at the lab with the first ring, already predict a spatial resolution of 2.9 mm at the cFOV. We aim to report a full characterization of the scanner during the conference.