Design Consideration for a Continuously Rotating Positron Computed Tomograph

Design consideration for a whole-body, multislice Positron CT having 3 detector rings, 160 BGO crystal/ring, and a continuously rotating scan is described. The one detector ring has 40 "BGO Quad-detectors", each of which consists of 4 BGO crystals and two photomultipliers. Improvements in the BGO crystal and the photomultiplier have been accomplished. Geometrical configuration of the collimator was determined through optimization of the main performances of both the inplane and cross-plane images, utilizing the formulae for a cylindrical phantom with uniform activity. A continuously rotating scan (0.5-1rps) with unequally spaced the Quad-detector units is used. Along with this scan, a 32-channel rotary photo-coupler was developed for contact-free data transmission.