Speaker
Description
Background:
Positron emission tomography (PET) is one of the most powerful tools in modern medical imaging, enabling accurate diagnosis and monitoring of a wide range of diseases. However, current PET systems are limited by high costs, complex mechanical designs, and reliance on large amounts of scintillator material. As healthcare increasingly shifts toward early detection and personalised treatment, there is a strong demand for next-generation PET technologies that combine superior sensitivity, improved resolution, and more flexible, scalable system architectures.
Methods:
We introduce a modular PET detector design optimised for high-resolution time-of-flight (TOF) performance. The system architecture integrates fast silicon photomultipliers with compact, low-power, high-speed readout electronics, aiming to achieve coincidence timing resolutions (CTR) below 100 ps FWHM. A key innovation is the use of flat-panel detector modules, which can be assembled into reconfigurable geometries. This approach significantly reduces scintillator requirements while maintaining image quality, thereby lowering manufacturing costs and simplifying overall system design.
The work is being carried out within the Horizon Europe EIC Pathfinder project PetVision, a consortium of eight partners representing technology developers, academic research groups, and clinical end-users. This broad collaboration ensures that the system is developed from the component level through to a prototype demonstrator that will be evaluated and verified in clinical environments.
Results:
In this presentation, we will detail the design strategies underpinning the PetVision imager and discuss results from feasibility simulations that establish the system’s capability to match or exceed the performance of current PET scanners. We will also present experimental results of CTR measurements obtained with different tested scintillators, demonstrating progress toward the project’s ambitious timing goals. These findings provide strong evidence for the feasibility of achieving sub-100 ps CTR with a significantly reduced scintillator load.
Conclusions:
The PetVision project is advancing toward the realisation of a high-performance planar TOF-PET prototype. By combining innovative detector modules, cutting-edge electronics, and clinically informed system design, the consortium aims to deliver an adaptable and cost-effective imaging solution. The presentation will highlight not only the technical design, but also simulation-based feasibility studies and experimental validation of scintillator timing performance. The resulting system is expected to enable scalable PET configurations, from conventional clinical scanners to compact, mobile, and point-of-care applications, ultimately broadening access to advanced molecular imaging and supporting the delivery of personalised healthcare.
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