A non-invasive LSO-APD blood radioactivity monitor for PET imaging studies

A study has been carried out to investigate the possibility of using a pair of LSO + APD detector arrays to obtain a non-invasive measurement of the arterial input function for use in PET. The main focus of this study was to determine the spatial resolution and sensitivity required to obtain a high quality image that would permit a precise determination of the region of interest around the wrist artery. From these data a quantitative arterial input function that has minimal interference from the tissue and vein background can be obtained. The detector arrays were operated in coincidence counting mode to obtain planar images of various phantoms to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept.