Construction of a Positron Emission Tomograph with 2.4 Mm Detectors

One-quarter of one ring of a positron tomograph has been constructed. The positron annihilation gamma rays are detected by polished plastic scintillators which direct scintillation light by internal reflection to optical fibers for transmission to the photomultiplier tubes. By viewing each scintillator with four sets of optical fibers, the number of photomultipliers required for an eight ring tomograph with 1024 detectors per ring (2.4 mm wide detectors) can be reduced from 8192 to 288, and the cost of the tomograph reduced accordingly.