Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39504412›Full record

ArticleMedical physics2025

3D in-system calibration method for PET detectors.

Yannick Kuhl, Florian Mueller, Julian Thull, Stephan Naunheim, David Schug, Volkmar Schulz

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In one paragraph

Article in Medical physics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Yannick KuhlDepartment of Physics of Molecular Imaging Systems, Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Florian MuellerDepartment of Physics of Molecular Imaging Systems, Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Julian ThullDepartment of Physics of Molecular Imaging Systems, Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Stephan NaunheimDepartment of Physics of Molecular Imaging Systems, Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
David SchugDepartment of Physics of Molecular Imaging Systems, Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Volkmar SchulzDepartment of Physics of Molecular Imaging Systems, Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.

Funding

German Federal Ministry of Education and Research 13GW0621B
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundLight-sharing detector designs for positron emission tomography (PET) systems have sparked interest in the scientific community. Particularly, (semi-)monoliths show generally good performance characteristics regarding 2D positioning, energy-, and timing resolution, as well as readout area. This is combined with intrinsic depth-of-interaction (DOI) capability to ensure a homogeneous spatial resolution across the entire field of view (FoV). However, complex positioning calibration processes limit their use in PET systems, especially in large-scale clinical systems. PURPOSE: This work proposes a new 3D positioning in-system calibration method for fast and convenient (re-)calibration and quality control of assembled PET scanners. The method targets all kinds of PET detectors that achieve the best performance with individual calibration, including complex segmented detector designs. The in-system calibration method is evaluated and empirically compared to a state-of-the-art fan-beam calibration for a small-diameter proof of concept (PoC) scanner. A simulation study evaluates the method's applicability to different scanner geometries.

methodsA PoC scanner geometry of 120 mm inner diameter and 150 mm axial extent was set up consisting of five identical finely segmented slab detectors (one detector under test and four collimation detectors). A

resultsWith a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.8  and 1.19 mm full-width at half maximum (FWHM) along the planar-monolithic slab dimension, the in-system methods performed similarly within 1% to the fan-beam collimator results. The DOI performance was at ∼90% with 1.13 mm MAE and 2.47 mm FWHM to the fan-beam collimator. Analytical calculations suggest an improved performance for larger scanner geometries.

conclusionThe functionality of the 3D in-system positioning calibration method was successfully demonstrated with the measurements within a PoC scanner configuration with similar positioning performance as the bench-top fan-beam setup. The in-system calibration method can be used to calibrate and test fully assembled PET systems to enable more complex light-sharing detector architectures in, for example, large PET systems with many detectors. The acquired data can further be used for more complex energy and time calibrations.

Indexed as

Imaging, Three-DimensionalPositron-Emission TomographyCalibration3D in‐system calibrationmachine‐learning‐based PET detector calibration(semi)‐monolithic PET detectors

Identifiers

PMID39504412
PMCPMC11699997

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.