Development of a combined microPET®-MR system

A number of different approaches for combining MRI with PET have been investigated [1, 2, 3, 4]. Our approach (Figure 1) is based on a novel, 1T actively-shielded superconducting magnet with a 80mm gap to accommodate a multi-ring PET detector array based on a microPET® Focus 120 system (Siemens Molecular Imaging Preclinical Solutions, Knoxville USA). The PET detectors and MR imager view the same region in space, which facilitates simultaneous MRI and PET acquisition. We present an overview of the status of the system. (...)