Silicon as an unconventional detector in positron emission tomography

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a widely used technique in medical imaging and in studying small animal models of human disease. In the conventional approach, the 511 keV annihilation photons emitted from a patient or small animal are detected by a ring of scintillators such as LYSO read out by arrays of photodetectors. Although this has been successful in achieving ∼ 5 mm FWHM spatial resolution in human studies and ∼ 1 mm resolution in dedicated small animal instruments, there is interest in significantly improving these figures. Silicon, although its stopping power is modest for 511 keV photons, offers a number of potential advantages over more conventional approaches including the potential for high intrinsic spatial resolution in 3D. To evaluate silicon in a variety of PET “magnifying glass” configurations, an instrument was constructed that consists of an outer partial-ring of PET scintillation detectors into which various arrangements of silicon detectors are inserted to emulate dual-ring or imaging probe geometries. Measurements using the test instrument demonstrated the capability of clearly resolving point sources of 22Na having a 1.5 mm center-to-center spacing as well as the 1.2 mm rods of a 18F-filled resolution phantom. Although many challenges remain, silicon has potential to become the PET detector of choice when spatial resolution is the primary consideration.