Performance evaluation and development of quantitative procedures for high resolution preclinical PET imaging

Positron emission tomography (PET) has emerged as a remarkable molecular imaging technology for qualitative assessment and quantitative measurement of biochemical processes in vivo in the clinical and preclinical domains non-invasively. PET detects annihilation photons which are emitted from a subject following injection of radiotracer–labelled compounds to enable the reconstruction of the 3-dimensional spatial distribution of the underlying radiotracer within the body. The importance of PET in preclinical imaging has increased significantly during the last decade owing to its capabilities for studying physiological and biological functions in living small animal models of human disease. Clinical PET scanners are not considered suitable for small-animal imaging since they do not provide the high resolution and sensitivity required for small laboratory animal studies. This has lead to the design and development of various prototype and commercial scanners dedicated for small-animal PET imaging. Optimum image quality and quantitative accuracy in PET depends […