Nuclear Medicine

SPECT and PET

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 a good book!

SR Cherry, JA Sorenson, ME Phelps

Physics in Nuclear Medicine

Saunders, 2012

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“tracer”

“projection”
3
 CT
PET   ( )d
  ( )d SPECT y T  I  I0 e L
d
y E    (x)dx e L
  ( )d
L y E   (x) e x dx
L

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reconstruction

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Metabolic images,
characteristics depend on
• tracer specificity
• tracer sensitivity
• detection system

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 Medical physicist

• diagnostics:
– QC camera hardware & software
– Image formation, reconstruction
– Image analysis
– (dosimetry)
• therapy
– dosimetry
• research

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Radionuclides

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 b- emission
- -


- - - -
-
- - - -
0
+ 0 0
+ 0
+ 0 + 0
- -
+ +
+ 0 + + 0 +

140 keV
0 - 0 -
0 0
0 - 0 -
+ 0 0
- 0 - + -
+
+ 0 + 0
- 0 + - 0 +
-
- -
- - - -
- -
- -

99
Mo 99m
Tc 99
Tc

b- emission isomeric
(66 hours) transition
(6 hours)
     
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 Electron capture
- -
- - - -
- - -
+ -
0 0 +
+ 0
0
+ 0
- - 0
+ +
+ 0 +
+ 0 - 0 +
0 0
0 - 0
0
+ 0
- -
+ - + 0
-
+ 0 0
- + + 0
0 - 0 +
- -
-
- - -
- -
-
- -

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 Electron capture
0.0 MeV
111 In
49 (2.83 days)

Radiation freq MeV

EC g1 0.905 0.171
0.4167 MeV
ce-K, g1 0.083 0.145
g1 0.2454 MeV
ce-L1,g1 0.009 0.167
... ... ...
g2 0.940 0.245
0.0 MeV g2
111 Cd ce-K, g2 0.050 0.219
(stable)
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... ... ...
Ka1 X-ray 0.442 0.023
... ... ...
Auger-KLL 0.106 0.019
... ... ... 11
 Positron or b+ emission

- +
-
-
-
+ 0
- + 0
+ -
0 + +
0 0 +
- 0
0 -
0
+ + + 0
+ 0
+ 0

- - 11
C - -

511 keV
+ - positronium

511 keV

+- 180o
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 Radioactivity

1 mCi = 37 MBq = 37 x 106 events per s

dN    N dt

N (t )  N (t0 ) e  (t  t0 )
t  t0
 ln( 2 )
t1 / 2
N (t )  N (t 0 ) e

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 Poisson noise

Chance of measuring n photons e   n

when l are expected : p (n ) 
n!
Poisson distribution resembles Gaussian

(n  )2 p4 (x)
1 
p (n )  e 2
2  p1 5 ( x )
   

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Poisson noise

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 Poisson noise


SNR =  


n1 Poisson(l1) n1+ n2 Poisson(l1+ l2)

n2 Poisson(l2)

n1  n 2  1   2  1   2

n1  n 2  1   2  1   2
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photon-electron
interactions

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 Photon-electron interactions

Detectors pair
production
photo-electric

Compton -

+
Tissue -
0
-
+ 0 + 0
0
+ + 0
+ 0 -

- -

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 attenuation

scatter
-

+ 0
-
+ 0 -
+ 0
0
+ + 0
+ 0 -

- -
photoelectric effect
-

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water

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 Energy loss due to Compton scatter

1 E’
E' E
1  cos  511
1 E 2
me c q

E -10%
140

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 attenuation

+ 0
-
+ 0 -
+ 0
0
+ + 0
+ 0 -

- -

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 attenuation
dN ( x)    ( x) N ( x)dx

Single photon N(a) N(b)

a b

  ab  ( x ) d x
N (b )  N ( a )e
Positron a
c b

 ca  ( x ) d x   ab  ( x ) d x
N (b , c )  N ( a ) e e
 cb  ( x ) d x
 N (a ) e
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attenuation

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Data acquisition

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 Scintillation

time

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 Scintillation crystals

NaI(Tl) BGO LSO GSO LaBr:Ce

Photons/keV 40 5..8 20..30 12 60..70
decay time [ns] 230 300 40 65 16..20
lin.att.coeff @ 511keV [/cm] 0.34 0.95 0.87 0.67 0.47
wave length 410 480 420 440 380
melting point 651 1050 2050 1950 783
transparency, ease of use...

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Photomultiplier tube

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 Detector design

Single crystal multi-

crystal

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 Position and energy measurement
x,y,z
Electronics
output current

X
Y

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 Multiple events

output current
x,y,z
Electronics All wrong

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 Intrinsic resolution
Y
x,y,z
Electronics

FWHM

NaI(Tl): 4 mm
Collimator

Source
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Multidetector crystal

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 Expensive alternatives

• APD: avalanche photo diode

– diode in reverse mode
– replaces PMT, much smaller, low voltage
– works in high magnetic field

• Cd Zn Te detectors
– direct detection of high energy photons
– excellent energy resolution
– high stopping power (similar to NaI(Tl))

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Partial volume
effect

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Partial
volume
constant
activity

big pixels

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 perfect resolution

Partial
volume finite resolution

constant
concentration

finite resolution

Recovery

Spill-over

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Collimation

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 CT
PET   ( )d
  ( )d SPECT y T  I  I0 e L
d
y E    (x)dx e L
  ( )d
L y E   (x) e x dx
L

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 Collimator

Lens Collimator
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 Collimators

Parallel Fanbeam

Cone beam Pinhole

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Collimator PSF
counts

FWHM

position

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 Collimator sensitivity

R
H
r a 2
1 a
Sens   
T 12  T 
S
pMol!

 rT  1
PSF(r)   1  
 aH  4 H 2

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 Collimator sensitivity

FWHM

H
a

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 Electronic collimation

r
x

psf
x
r

d
d
x
psf

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PET lines of response

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 PET sensitivity

sensitivity in center:
2 R d d
 2

4 R 2R

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 PET resolution

max max mean

Mev mm mm
11
C 0.96 3.9 1.1
13
N 1.19 5.1 1.5
15
O 1.72 8.0 2.5 511 KeV
+
18
F 0.64 2.4 0.6
68
Ga 1.90 8.9 2.9
82
Rb 3.35 17 5.9
-

0.3o 2.5 mm
(for 1 m FOV)

511 KeV

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 Coincidence detection

True Scatter

Single Random

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 PET septa

r
T
d
D
r
efficiency:e
time window: t

d2 d2
trues:  a 2 2 singles:  a
D T
4
d3 2 2 2 d
scatters:  a 2 2 randoms:  a  2

DT T
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 2D and 3D PET

N rings

trues: ~ d2 singles: ~ d2

scatters: ~d 3 randoms: ~ d4

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Compton scatter
and
energy windowing

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Collimator, scatter, attenuation

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 Energy of scattered photons

Counts
6000
Measured
5000 Simulated
primary
4000 scattered
3000

2000

1000

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

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 Scatter window subtraction
Counts
6000
Simulated
5000 primary
scattered
4000

3000

2000

1000

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

Energy KeV

Scatter PSF is energy dependent

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 Triple Energy Window
Counts
6000
C1
Simulated
5000 primary C2
scattered C3
4000

3000

2000

1000

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

Energy KeV

Corrected counts = C1 - filter(C2 + C3)

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 TEW, 201Tl cardiac phantom

global scale
joint scale

Lower Higher
Peak Corrected
window window

individual scale

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 Energy resolution
Bentourkia, IEEE TMI 1999

SPECT, fwhm 10 %
6000
Counts
5000

4000

3000 PET BGO, fwhm 20 %

2000 PET LSO, GSO, LYSO...
1000 between 10 and 20%
Energy KeV
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

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 Model based scatter correction

Ollinger 1996, 3D PET

B
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 PET scatter PSF

Measured

Monte Carlo

Ollinger high sampling

Ollinger low sampling

Ollinger, Phys Med Biol 1996

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 Activity outside FOV

B
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 Corrections
front end electronics

Crystal
Collimator

Computer

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 Linearity correction

X X + DX

Y
Y + DY
Triad XLT 24
Detector 1
14-01-1997

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Energy correction

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 Uniformity correction

No correction Energy correction

E + Linearity E + L + Flood correctie

divide by flood source image 65
 Uniformity correction

dead PMT

non-uniformity due to non-linearity

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 broken PMT

head1 head2 h1 h2

h1 h2 h1 h2

h1 h2 h1 h2

Tc-99m MDP – bone spect on dual head camera

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 e.cam, detector 2

Broken PMT affecting high voltage

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detector 1 detector 2

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 Dead time

Measured
count
Front end:
rate t = 700 ns R1  R 0 e  R 0 1

Data processing:
R 2  (1  R 2  2 ) R 1
or
R1
R2 
500,000 cps 1  R1 2
True count rate

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71
 Randoms correction in PET
delayed window

Det 1

time time

Det 2
prompt: random!
true or random

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