TY - GEN
T1 - Performance evaluation of the Inveon PET scanner using GATE based on the NEMA NU-4 standards
AU - Lu, Lijun
AU - Karakatsanis, Nicolas
AU - Ma, Jianhua
AU - Bian, Zhaoying
AU - Han, Yanjiang
AU - Tang, Jing
AU - Rahmim, Arman
AU - Chen, Wufan
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - The purpose of this study is to validate the application of GATE (Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission) Monte Carlo simulation toolkit to model the performance characteristics of Siemens Inveon small animal PET system. GATE has been utilized to accurately create a complete PET imaging system model, including system geometry, physics process, signal processing and time-dependent effects. The GATE output data were histogrammed into 3D sinograms and subsequently processed by the Software of Tomography Reconstruction (STIR) to reconstruct 3D PET images. The simulation results were validated against experimental data in accordance with the NEMA NU-4 2008 protocol for standardized evaluation of spatial resolution, sensitivity, scatter fraction (SF) and noise equivalent counting rate (NECR) of a preclinical PET system. An agreement of less than 3% was obtained between the spatial resolution of the simulated and experimental results. The simulated peak NECR of mouse-size phantom agreed with the experimental result, while for the rat-size phantom simulated value was higher than experimental result. The simulated and experimental SFs of mouse- and rat- size phantom both reach an agreement of less than 2%. Therefore, it has been shown the feasibility of our GATE model to accurately simulate, within certain limits, all major performance characteristics of Inveon PET system. In future, the validated model can be utilized to validate, assess and further develop reconstruction algorithms and PET acquisition protocols.
AB - The purpose of this study is to validate the application of GATE (Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission) Monte Carlo simulation toolkit to model the performance characteristics of Siemens Inveon small animal PET system. GATE has been utilized to accurately create a complete PET imaging system model, including system geometry, physics process, signal processing and time-dependent effects. The GATE output data were histogrammed into 3D sinograms and subsequently processed by the Software of Tomography Reconstruction (STIR) to reconstruct 3D PET images. The simulation results were validated against experimental data in accordance with the NEMA NU-4 2008 protocol for standardized evaluation of spatial resolution, sensitivity, scatter fraction (SF) and noise equivalent counting rate (NECR) of a preclinical PET system. An agreement of less than 3% was obtained between the spatial resolution of the simulated and experimental results. The simulated peak NECR of mouse-size phantom agreed with the experimental result, while for the rat-size phantom simulated value was higher than experimental result. The simulated and experimental SFs of mouse- and rat- size phantom both reach an agreement of less than 2%. Therefore, it has been shown the feasibility of our GATE model to accurately simulate, within certain limits, all major performance characteristics of Inveon PET system. In future, the validated model can be utilized to validate, assess and further develop reconstruction algorithms and PET acquisition protocols.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84904189948&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/NSSMIC.2013.6829094
DO - 10.1109/NSSMIC.2013.6829094
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84904189948
SN - 9781479905348
T3 - IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record
BT - 2013 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, NSS/MIC 2013
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2013 60th IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, NSS/MIC 2013
Y2 - 27 October 2013 through 2 November 2013
ER -