Antonis Kalemis
Philips, UK
Title: New Technologies in PET imaging and their applications into the Clinic
Biography
Biography: Antonis Kalemis
Abstract
Positron Emission imaging was introduced in the early ‘50s and after the advent of Positron emission tomography in early ‘70s few distinct technological leaps improved the performance of the tomographs and rendered them clinically relevant. A major component that has remained unchanged since its introduction is the photon detection chain based on photomultiplier tubes, rendering nuclear medicine the imaging modality still based, technologically, on vacuum tubes. The recent introduction of solid-state detectors, in this field, allows significant opportunities in the areas of novel imaging modality combinations (e.g. PET/MR) as well as dramatic improvement of image quality and quantification performance. This new generation of hybrid tomographs, in combination with novel highly-specific radiotracers have allowed clinicians to consider PET imaging for new applications or to reconsider its performance in more traditional applications. The proposed talk aims to review the major new (or improved) technologies in PET imaging, such as time-of-flight, solid-state detectors, Anger-logic, iterative reconstruction and corrections and consider the performance benefits that each of them brings. The ultimate aim is to link these technological advancements with expected improvements in clinical performance and provide examples for various different clinical applications