Comparative study of ECAT HRRT and microPET/spl reg/ R4 for animal PET studies

In vivo studies on animals are required for the development of new drugs and radioactive tracers, the monitoring of gene therapy and the development of new medical treatments. Two high resolution positron emission tomographs (PET) were compared in the scope of this work with regard to their suitability for high resolution animal PET scans. The ECAT HRRT is a dedicated whole human brain scanner with a resolution of less than 2.5 mm in the center of the field of view (FOV). With its extended FOV the HRRT is also suitable for animal scans with more than one animal simultaneously. The microPET/spl reg/ R4 is a dedicated animal PET scanner, designed for studies of rodents.