Scintillation crystals for PET

In PET, inorganic scintillator crystals are used to record gamma-rays produ ced by the annihilation of positrons emitted by injected tracers. The ultim ate performance of the camera is strongly tied to both the physical and sci ntillation properties of the crystals. For this reason, researchers have in vestigated virtually all known scintillator crystals for possible use in PE T. Despite this massive research effort, only a few different scintillators have been found that have a suitable combination of characteristics, and o nly 2 (thallium-doped sodium iodide and bismuth germanate) have found wides pread use. A recently developed scintillator crystal, cerium-doped lutetium oxyorthosilicate, appears to surpass all previously used materials in most respects and promises to be the basis for the next generation of PET camer as.