Development of tachyon time-of-flight PET cameras

The increased statistical efficiency gained with TOF information can be used to decrease acquisition time, decrease injected dose, or improve image quality of a PET system. We are designing Tachyon TOF PET cameras (Tachyon I, II and III) to: (1) Construct “demonstration” single-ring TOF PET cameras that achieve significantly improved timing resolution; (2) Quantitatively measure the benefit for clinically relevant tasks as a function of timing resolution; (3) Design practical multiple-ring PET cameras with excellent timing performances for clinic applications. Tachyon I is a single-ring TOF PET scanner constructed with LYSO crystals and Hamamatsu R-9800 PMTs. The ring diameter of the scanner is 76.6 cm. Time resolution of the system (defined as of each crystal-crystal combination) is 314ps ±20ps. Tachyon I is currently in clinical test stage. Tachyon II is a single-ring SiPM-based TOF PET scanner currently under construction. The ring diameter of the scanner is still 76.6 cm. LaBr3 scintillator crystals will be used in Tachyon II. The target system-level CRT timing resolution is 100ps or better. Tachyon III is a practical multiple-ring SiPM-based TOF PET scanner for real clinic applications. Tachyon III is currently in conceptual design stage.