Small animal simultaneous PET/MRI: initial experiences in a 9.4 T microMRI

http://iopscience.iop.org/0031-9155/56/8/009 

Main highlights of BNL PET/MRI system:
• One-one coupling between the scintillator and photodetector: provides accurate event positioning.

• Can image both rat brain and mouse heart using the same PET system.

• High field strength MRI - 9.4 tesla: provides better spatial resolution and SNR in MR images.


Our PET system (ID = 38 mm) is based on Rat Consious Animal PET (RatCAP) detector. Its main application was to acquire PET images of an awake rat brain without administering anesthesia. Anesthesia reportedly suppresses the brain chemistry that are not visualized in PET scans. Hence the application of our PET system is novel. The rat wears the PET detector around its head and is free to move around, while PET data is being acquired. We used the same PET detector design, architecture and geometry for simultaneous PET/MRI applications, replacing all possible magnetic components. The animals, in this case, are of course anesthetized.

We are using Bruker Biospin 9.4T microMRI scanner at BNL, for all our PET/MRI studies. An in-house MRI coil was designed and built to fit inside the PET system, given its geometry.