YAP-PET: a small animal positron emission tomograph based on YAP:Ce finger crystals

The authors have built a small animal positron emission tomograph (YAP-PET) based on four matrices of 400 YAP:Ce finger crystals (2/spl times/2/spl times/30 mm/sup 3/ each) coupled to Hamamatsu R2486-06 position sensitive photomultipliers. The system consists of four detectors on a rotating gantry with a variable diameter between 10 and 25 cm. The read-out and data acquisition system are handled by off-shelf electronics and are controlled by in house developed programs. The tomograph has a total FOV of 4/spl times/4/spl times/4 cm/sup 3/ that is appropriate for mice and rat studies. A spatial resolution /spl les/2 mm over the useful FOV of 2/spl times/2/spl times/2 cm/sup 3/ has been measured, with an average sensitivity of about 730 cps//spl mu/Ci for a gantry diameter of 15 cm and an energy threshold of 50 keV.