Imaging for Physicists

Time-of-flight (TOF) PET

• In addition to the coincidence information, the difference in flight time is registered

=∆ 2

x

∆

t

c

• Better SNR

• Example: Δt=500ps Δx=? =∆

5.7 5.0

t c

∆⋅ ⋅

cm

=

(a) Localization without TOF, (b) with TOF. Townsend, PMB 2008 [3]

21

ESTRO Teaching Course Advanced Imaging: PET – Basic Principles