UGM Medical Systems Inc.

PENN-PET

Model 240 H

WHOLE BODY POSITRON SCANNER BASED ON

LARGE-AREA POSITION-SENSITIVE DETECTORS

WHY PENN-PET
The PENN-PET scanner was designed with clinical imaging in mind. It therefore offers
a combination of features not commonly found in PET instruments.

Equal resolution in all 3 directions

combined with fine axial sampling
allows reslicing into coronal, sagittal
and oblique sections.

Large axial field of view (12.8 cm)

Reslicing along major axis of the heart

and no gantry motion, such as wobbling,

permits gated cardiac imaging and fast
dynamic studies without sampling
problems.

64 transverse slices and 2 mm spacing

gives superior quantitative accuracy by
eliminating partial volume effect.
Equal resolution in XYZ and 2 mm sampling
r------'---------,

400

Superior energy resolution

of sodium iodide detector material
allows use of large acceptance angle
without septa for hig h sensitivity and
low scatter fraction.

300

~::>

o 200

100

200

6 crystals and 240 photomultipliers

result in a scanner with clinically important
features at an affordable price.

l::>E
0

600

10% energy resolution

SPHERE LOCATED BETWEEN SLICES

SPHERE CENTERED IN SLICE

en

300
400
500
ENERGY (keV)

10000

10000

2 mm slices PENNPET

8000

8000

6 mm slices

6000

6000

u
2 mm slices
'-PENN.PET

<lOOO
2000

4000

2000

,,
,
____I

40

20
30
'0
AXIAL DISTANCE (mm)

40

Axial profile through 10 mm sphere with 2mm samples (PENN-PET) and with a system having 6 mm slice
separation demonstrating better quantitative accuracy with 2 mm slices.

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
DETECTORS
6 large-area position-sensitive
Nal(TI) detectors
high spatial resolution along both
axes (5-6 mm)
high energy resolution (10% FWHM
at511keV)
good coincidence timing (3 nanosec
FWHM)
pulse shortening and local centroid
calculation for high count rates

SCANNER
large patient port suitable for body
imaging (50 cm diameter)
12.8 cm axial field of view with
continuous axial sampling
completely stationary gantry - no
need for complicated wobbling
mechanism
compact design to minimize space
requirements

DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM

separate terminal for acquisition
nearscanner
acquisition is controlled by a
pre-processor - frees host
computer during data collection
high speed sorting into projection matrices
provisions for dynamic or gated
data acquisition
compact electronics rack - no
need for separate equipment
room

IMAGE DISPLAY
Unix-based display and data
analysis software
transverse, sagittal, coronal and
oblique sections
variable image format, multiple
windows
2-D and 3-D image display and
analysis using regions or
volumes-of-i nterest

UGM Medical Systems Inc.

UGM Medical Systems is dedicated to providing its customers with PET instrumentation
tailored to clinical use. UGM operates under the direction of Dr. Gerd Muehllehner, one
of the leading physicists in PET with over 20 years of experience in Nuclear Medicine
instrumentation. The efforts of Dr. Muehllehner and his associates over the last 15
years have been aimed at bringing the advantages of continuous position-sensitive
detectors to PET, first through research based at the University of Pennsylvania and
now at UGM Medical Systems.

Sodium Iodide (Nal(TI)) Detectors in PET

Until now, commercially available PET scanners have used detectors composed of many
discrete or block-type Bismuth Germanate (BGO) crystals. While BGO crystals have
certain attractive properties, their scintillation light output (and therefore energy
resolution) is insufficient for use in large-area continuous detectors. To gain the
advantage of continuous scintillation detectors, UGM has chosen to use sodium iodide,
Nal(TI), one of the most luminescent scintillators known, and the mainstay of
single-photon Nuclear Medicine in the form of the Anger camera. By using Nal(TI)
detectors, the PENN-PET can not only provide continuous axial sampling, but can also
obtain the energy resolution necessary for good scatter rejection without extensive
detector shielding, thereby leading to higher sensitivity.
To maintain the countrate capability, the large-area detectors in the PENN-PET use
"pulse-clipping" to shorten the scintillation response of the detectors, thereby increasing
the rate at which the detectors can handle photon interactions. Pulse-clipping has
enabled the PENN-PET detectors to operate successfully at count rates of over 2 million
counts per second, a factor of 10 improvement over the best comparable single-photon
device. Furthermore, instead of calculating the event using all photomultipliers in a
crystal, the PENN-PET detectors only use the photomultipliers in the immediate vicinity
of the scintillation to position the event, called the "local centroid". This avoids
interference of signals from other scintillations which may occur in the same crystal
nearly simultaneously. The result is a continuous detector with all the features that
have made it the detector of choice in Nuclear Medicine, but with the count rate
capability necessary for PET.
REFERENCES:
The PENN-PET Model 240 H is based on the design described in the following publications:
1. Karp JS, Muehllehner G, Mankoff DA, et al: Continuous slice PENN-PET: A positron tomograph with
volume imaging capability. J Nucl Med (to be published).
2. Muehllehner G, Karp JS, Mankoff DA, et al: Design and performance of a new positron tomograph.
IEEE Trans Nucl Science, 35:670-674, 1988.
3. Mankoff DA, Muehllehner G, Karp JS: The high count rate performance of a two-dimensionally
position-sensitive detector for positron emission tomography. Phys Med Bioi, 34:437-456,1989.

PROVEN CLINICAL PERFORMANCE

The PENN-PET scanner is well suited for a wide variety of clinical procedures. High
resolution equilibrium images of the brain using FOG have been used in the study of
Alzheimer's disease, tumor detection and staging, and the assessment of the severity
of stroke. Cardiac PET has been used in the evaluation of tissue viability for choosing
treatment options and assessing treatment efficacy. The fine axial resolution and 2mm
slice spacing is particularly effective in neuroreceptor studies.

Normal FDG brain scan

FDG scan of patient with Alzheimers disease

FDG cardiac scan of patient with myocardial

infarction. Papillary muscles are visualized
on these diastolic gated images.

Dynamic study using F-18 spiperone in a

baboon. Each row shows several slices,
different rows represent different times.

...

- -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

TRANSVERSE, SAGITTAL AND CORONAL IMAGES

WITHOUT SCANNER MOTION

Western Biomedical Research

UGM Medical Systems Inc.

4815 E. Mt. Pleasant Drive

Flagstaff, AZ 86004
(602) 527-9428

3401 Market Street. Suite 222. Philadelphia. PA 19104 (215) 222-4999

WESTERN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

4815 E. 'Mr. Pt.EASANT DR.
FLAGSTAFF, AZ 86004
(602) 527-9428

. v l, ,

PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS
PENN-PET MODEL 240-H
GANTRY
Patient aperture:
50 cm
Gantry tilt:
+/- 15 degrees
motorized translation for patient couch
DETECTORS
material:
size:
useful axial field of view
length
thickness
Number of detectors
Photomultipliers per detector
Detector separation

NaI(Tl)
14 cm
50 cm
2.5 cm
6

40
85 cm

Intrinsic spatial resolution (FWHM):

transverse
axial

5.2 mm
6.2 mm

Detector timing resolution (FWHM):

3 nsec

SYSTEM
Slice spacing in all three directions:
Slice thickness increment
selectable after data acquisition
Slice separation: overlap or contiguous
Number of slices:
Field of view:
transverse
axial

... .,

, '

Id

2 mm
2 mm
64
50 cm
12.8 cm

Spatial Resolution (FWHM):

transverse at 0 (from center)
transverse at 10 cm
axial at 0 (from center)
axial at 10 cm

5.5
6.5
5.8
8.5

Volume sensitivity:
(randoms and scatter subtracted)
photopeak only
200 keY threshold

70,000 CPS/uCi/cc
140,000 CPS/uCi/cc

mm
mm
mm

mm

Energy resoultion (FWHM @ 5llkeV)

10 %

Scatter fraction:
18 cm dia./photopeak
18 cm dia/250 keV threshold

15 %
25 %