Commissioning and first image reconstruction with a new time-of-flight PET prototype

Within the framework of the EndoTOFPET-US project an endoscopic multimodal imaging device combining Ultrasound endoscopy and Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography is developed. The design foresees a miniaturized PET head installed on a commercial ultrasound endoscope and an external detector plate, which will be positioned in close proximity to the patient's body. The prototype system described here consists of the final PET plate and an endoscopic demonstrator, which has a system time of flight resolution of 255 ps FWHM and reaches a spatial resolution of about 1.5 mm in the direction transverse to the line of sight connecting the detectors. The applications of this device are within diagnostic and surgical oncology as well as the development of new biomarkers targeted for prostate cancer. In this paper, results from the commissioning of a full sized prototype, including timing performance and first image reconstruction are presented