CHerenkov Light mOdulE for time-of-flight Positron Emission Tomography

Time-of-flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET) is the standard-of-care in cancer detection. TOF-PET scanners’ performance is dependent on the radiation detectors they use.

Improving time and spatial detection features in such detectors will dramatically impact the diagnostic capacity of TOF-PET systems.

The goal of this project is to build a gamma detector concept for TOF-PET able to improve the time resolution and spatial segmentation of state-of-the-art detectors by a factor of up to 7 and 10, respectively, without additional production costs.

CHLOE-PET is a forward-looking gamma detector design for TOF-PET able to exploit the new photodetector technologies that are currently under development and will become available within the next 5-to-10-years.

The novelty of the proposed design lies in using Cherenkov light as a prompt time source, using an innovative geometry optimized to maximize light collection, and employing photodetectors with small pixel pitch.

This project is the first attempt to build a detector module scalable to a full-size system that can be used in a hospital setting.

The CHLOE-PET detector will consist of bismuth germanate (BGO) crystals with 12 mm thickness and will combine the readout of scintillation and Cherenkov light.

CHLOE-PET will provide an effective 3D segmentation of 2x2x2 mm3, an intrinsic photon time spread of 20 ps, and no intrinsic radiation background (unlike state-of-the-art TOF-PET detectors).

Such improvements will allow increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of images by >2-fold, to be able to detect lesions of 2 mm size (>3 times the current performance), to build portable high-performance organ-dedicated TOF-PET systems, and to universalize the use of dynamic TOF-PET studies.

The combination of these outcomes will provide significantly better diagnostic capabilities in a range of fields such as oncology, neurology, or cardiology, among others, and ultimately boost treatment efficacy and patient comfort.