Time-Resolved Positron Emission Tomography Encoder System for Producing Event-By-Event, Real-Time, High Resolution, Three-Dimensional Positron Emission Tomographic Image Without the Necessity of Performing Image Reconstruction

A process for forming three-dimensional Positron Emission Tomography Images, event-by-event in real-time and without a necessity of low efficiency, time-consuming, and expensive image reconstruction and without a necessity of CT scans to correct attenuation of the Positron Emission Tomography signal, said process comprising:

• providing a selected number of cooperating pairs of diametrically opposed scintillation detectors adapted for receiving coincident gamma rays from a positron event;
• determining a two-dimensional position of the positron event producing said gamma ray photons;
• determining a line of response for each cooperating pair of diametrically opposed scintillation detectors of said coincident gamma rays;
• substantially reducing time walk associated with leading edge discriminators;
• and
• detecting and measuring with picosecond resolution, gamma event-by-gamma event, a time difference of said coincident gamma rays being detected by a cooperating pair of diametrically opposed scintillation detectors along said line of response in order to determine a third dimensional position of the positron event along said line of response, thereby producing an event-by-event, high resolution, three-dimensional positron emission tomographic image without a necessity of performing an image reconstruction.

An encoder system to form three-dimensional Positron Emission Tomography Images, event-by-event in real-time and without a necessity of low efficiency, time consuming, and expensive image reconstruction and without a necessity of CT scans to correct attenuation of the Positron Emission Tomography signal, said encoder system comprising:

• a plurality of cooperating pairs of diametrically opposed scintillation detectors adapted for receiving gamma rays from a positron event;
• electronic circuitry in electronic communication with each pair of said diametrically opposed scintillation detectors for determining a two-dimensional position of the positron event occurring between each pair of diametrically opposed scintillation detectors, each event producing said gamma rays which travel along a line of response extending between cooperating pairs of detectors;
• and
• further electronic circuitry for substantially reducing time walk associated with leading edge discriminators and for measuring a difference between the arrival times of coincident gamma rays from said positron event detected by said diametrically opposed scintillation detectors along said line of response with picosecond resolution thereby enabling determination of a third dimensional position of the positron event along said line of response thereby producing an event-by-event, high resolution, three-dimensional positron emission tomographic image without a necessity of performing an image reconstruction, said further electronic circuitry including a time amplitude converter.