Systems and methods for time of flight positron emission tomography
AssigneeGE Precision Healthcare LLC
InventorSergei Dolinsky
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for a time of flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET) system is herein provided. In one example, an imaging system comprises one or more detector blocks, each detector block including an array of silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) devices coupled to an array of scintillation crystals with a one-to-one coupling arrangement, wherein each SiPM device of the array of SiPM devices transmits signals to independent front-end readout circuits of one or more analog application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The front-end readout circuits are configured to detect individual scintillating photons and suppress SiPM dark counts.
Claims17
An imaging system, comprising:
- a detector block including an array of silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) devices coupled to a crystal in an array of scintillation crystals with a one-to-one coupling arrangement, wherein each SiPM device of the array of SiPM devices transmits signals to independent front-end readout circuits of one or more analog application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), wherein each independent front-end readout circuit comprises a plurality of comparators and one or more filters, wherein the plurality of comparators are configured with a lowest timing pick-off threshold of ⅓ single photoelectron (SPE).
A method for an imaging system, comprising:
- sensing light emitted by a scintillation crystal via a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) device of a detector block in response to an annihilation event;
- transmitting an analog signal from the SiPM device to a front-end buffer of a readout circuit;
- transmitting the analog signal through an energy channel to an energy filter of the readout circuit and through a timing channel to a timing filter of the readout circuit;
- shaping the analog signal with the energy filter and the timing filter of the readout circuit;
- comparing the analog signal to one or more thresholds via a plurality of comparators of the readout circuit;
- and
- digitizing the analog signal with one or more time to digital converters (TDCs) and one or more analog to digital converters (ADCs).
A time of flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET) system, comprising:
- a detector ring including a plurality of detector blocks, each detector block in the plurality of detector blocks including an array of silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) devices, each SiPM device in the array coupled to one scintillation crystal of an array of scintillation crystals, wherein each crystal of the array of scintillation crystals is configured to emit Cherenkov light in response to interaction with a gamma ray;
- and
- readout electronics including a front-end readout circuit for each of SiPM devices in the array of SiPM devices, wherein the readout electronics are configured to readout signals of detected Cherenkov light,
- wherein each front-end readout circuit comprises a timing pick-off circuit and one or more filters, wherein the timing pick-off circuit comprises a plurality of comparators configured to estimate rise time within 1-5 nanoseconds of a pulse, and wherein the readout electronics are configured to be triggered at a first level of ⅓ single photoelectron (SPE) and validated at a second level of 1.5 SPE.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.