PET is widely considered the most sensitive technique available for noninvasively studying physiology, metabolism, and molecular pathways in the living human being. However, the utility of PET, being a photon-deficient modality, remains constrained by factors including low signal-to-noise ratio, long imaging times, and concerns about radiation dose. Two developments offer the potential to dramatically increase the effective sensitivity of PET. First by increasing the geometric coverage to encompass the entire body, sensitivity can be increased by a factor of about 40 for total-body imaging or a factor of about 4–5 for imaging a single organ such as the brain or heart. The world’s first total-body PET/CT scanner is currently under construction to demonstrate how this step change in sensitivity affects the way PET is used both in clinical research and in patient care. Second, there is the future prospect of significant improvements in timing resolution that could lead to further effective sensitivity gains. When combined with total-body PET, this could produce overall sensitivity gains of more than 2 orders of magnitude compared with existing state-of-the-art systems. In this article, we discuss the benefits of increasing body coverage, describe our efforts to develop a first-generation total-body PET/CT scanner, discuss selected application areas for total-body PET, and project the impact of further improvements in time-of-flight PET.

PET被广泛认为是最无害的技术，可用于无创研究人体中的生理学，新陈代谢和分子途径。但是，PET的用途是光子不足的一种形式，但仍受信噪比低，成像时间长和对辐射剂量的担心等因素的限制。两项进展为显着提高PET的有效灵敏度提供了潜力。首先，通过增加覆盖整个身体的几何覆盖范围，可以将全身成像的灵敏度提高约40倍，或将单个器官（如大脑或心脏）成像的灵敏度提高约4–5倍。世界上第一台全身PET / CT扫描仪目前正在建造中，以展示灵敏度的这一阶跃变化如何影响PET在临床研究和患者护理中的使用方式。其次，未来时间分辨率的显着改善可能会导致有效灵敏度的进一步提高。当与全身PET结合使用时，与现有的最先进的系统相比，这可以使整体灵敏度提高2个数量级以上。在本文中，我们讨论了增加身体覆盖率的好处，描述了我们开发第一代全身PET / CT扫描仪的工作，讨论了全身PET的选定应用领域，并预测了时间的进一步改善的影响。机上PET。时序分辨率的显着改善在未来可能会导致进一步有效的灵敏度提高。当与全身PET结合使用时，与现有的最先进的系统相比，这可以使整体灵敏度提高2个数量级以上。在本文中，我们讨论了增加身体覆盖率的好处，描述了我们开发第一代全身PET / CT扫描仪的工作，讨论了全身PET的选定应用领域，并预测了时间的进一步改善的影响。机上PET。时序分辨率的显着改善在未来可能会导致进一步有效的灵敏度提高。当与全身PET结合使用时，与现有的最先进的系统相比，这可以使整体灵敏度提高2个数量级以上。在本文中，我们讨论了增加身体覆盖率的好处，描述了我们开发第一代全身PET / CT扫描仪的努力，讨论了全身PET的选定应用领域，并预测了时间的进一步改善的影响。机上PET。