![]() ![]() due to cardiac motion, blurs the PET image, leading to a loss of resolution. As a result, any movement of the target tissue, e.g. ![]() PET's reliance on low-level radioactive decay events means that PET images typically take ten to twenty minutes to acquire. One of the first challenges is to assess how well the motion capture capabilities of MR imaging can improve PET images. Development of a solid-state PET detector that is not affected by the high magnetic field of the MR-scanner or by reception of the MR signal involved eliminating magnetic materials, such as nickel in electronic component housings, and screening of the entire detector in a Faraday cage to prevent the introduction of RF noise into the MR signal. Getting an experimental MR-compatible PET detector to work inside an MR system was a key first step in developing this technology. However, concurrent clinical PET/MR scanners do not currently exist due to inherent incompatibilities between conventional PET detectors (photomultiplier tubes) and the high magnetic field strengths encountered in MR machines. In addition, MRI's ability to capture the motion of internal organs could be used to enhance both the resolution and sensitivity of the PET images. However, because of MRI's superior soft tissue imaging capabilities and its ability to provide additional functional information, such as blood perfusion measurements, a combined PET/MR scanner could potentially be of even greater benefit than PET/CT. PET/CT scanners allow functional information such as glucose uptake rates derived from an FDG-PET scan to be co-registered with anatomical features in the CT images. The EU-funded HYPERImage research project aims to merge the concurrent PET and MR imaging techniques, with the goal of opening new fields in therapy planning, guidance and response monitoring. ![]()
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