Effect of randoms on signal-to-noise ratio in TOF PET

Author

Conti, Maurizio

Author_Institution

Siemens Med. Solution, Molecular Imaging, Knoxville, TN, USA

Volume

53

Issue

3

fYear

2006

fDate

6/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1188

Lastpage

1193

Abstract

Time-of-flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET) has the potential to improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In the literature, this improvement has been estimated as proportional to the square root of D/Δx, where D is the radial dimension of the object to be imaged, and Δx is the spatial uncertainty associated with the time resolution of the scanner. This estimate does not include the effect of the randoms. In this paper we discuss the role of random coincidence in TOF PET; in particular, the improvement in SNR due to random reduction in TOF PET. We introduce and discuss a simple model for this improvement, modify the traditional estimate for SNR gain, and compare it to experimental data from a Siemens Hi-Rez PET scanner with TOF capability.

Keywords

positron emission tomography; solid scintillation detectors; LSO detector; SNR gain; Siemens Hi-Rez PET scanner; TOF PET; object radial dimension; random coincidence; random reduction; scanner time resolution; signal-to-noise ratio; spatial uncertainty; time-of-flight positron emission tomography; Detectors; Image resolution; Lanthanum; National electric code; Photonic crystals; Positron emission tomography; Signal resolution; Signal to noise ratio; Spatial resolution; Time measurement; PET; TOF; randoms; signal-to-noise ratio; time-of-flight;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2006.875066

Filename

1645014