A Positron floodlight for PET attenuation measurements

A new technique to image the patient surface has been developed to assist i n the segmented attenuation correction, currently finding favor in positron emission tomography (PET), The goals of this approach are to outline the b ody's contours quickly,with an inherent surface enhancement that would perm it transmission scanning after the emission scan. To achieve this, an orbit ing, thin-windowed source, mounted out of the detector plane, illuminates t he patients skin with a soft positron flux, while a static emission scan qu ickly delineates the patient outline; The ability to visualize internal str uctures is a welcome, if unexpected, windfall, The measurements of resoluti on and sensitivity cover a grid of three positron radionuclides and two sou rce assemblies imaging several phantoms to challenge four commercial scanne rs. Currently mounted on a CTI933/04, the positron floodlight is well suite d to virtually any ring-array PET scanner,,vith the potential for adaptatio n to the dual-headed camera instruments emerging on the market today.