A Proof-of-principle for Time-Of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography Imaging

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of using inexpensive Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPCs) as an alternative to costly scintillators in Time-Of-Flight PET imaging, showing promising experimental results.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of MRPCs for TOF-PET, providing a proof-of-principle that they can effectively replace traditional scintillators.

Findings

MRPC modules successfully detected source position shifts

MRPCs offer a cost-effective alternative for TOF-PET

Experimental results validate MRPCs' potential in medical imaging

Abstract

Time-Of-Flight (TOF) is a noble technique that is used in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging worldwide. The scintillator based imaging system that is being used around the world for TOF-PET is very expensive. Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPCs) are gaseous detectors which are easy to fabricate, inexpensive and have excellent position and timing resolution. They can be used as a suitable alternative to highly expensive scintillators. For the sole purpose of TOF-PET, a pair of 18 cm $\times$ 18 cm, 5 gap, glass-based MRPC modules have been fabricated. Our main aim was to determine the shift in the position of the source (Na-22) with these fabricated MRPCs. In this document, the details of the experimental results will be presented.