How does a PET scanner progress from an initial scientific concept to a functioning imaging system?

In the inaugural episode of Life in Voxels, hosts Nicolas A. Karakatsanis, Georgios Soultanidis, and Ezzat Elmoujarkach are joined by instrumentation scientists Fiammetta Pagano of the Institute for Instrumentation in Molecular Imaging (i3M), Valencia, Spain, and David Sánchez of Oncovision SA, Valencia, Spain.

Their conversation follows the development of PET instrumentation from scientific need and detector design through system integration, calibration, simulation, and image reconstruction, using the Ultra-High-Performance Brain PET (UHB-PET) prototype as a real-world example.

The discussion explores why dedicated brain PET systems remain scientifically important; how semi-monolithic detector architectures work; why depth-of-interaction information matters in compact PET geometries; how machine learning can estimate gamma-ray interaction positions; how multiplexing helps translate laboratory detector concepts into scalable systems; and what changes when hundreds of detector components are integrated into a complete scanner.

The conversation also goes behind the scenes of UHB-PET calibration and commissioning at Weill Cornell Medicine, examining energy and timing calibration, detector positioning, normalization, system troubleshooting, experimentally informed Monte Carlo simulation, image reconstruction, and the recovery of complex detector events.

Finally, the guests discuss the increasingly close relationship between hardware and software innovation and what the next generation of PET instrumentation may look like.

Hosts

Nikolaos A. Karakatsanis — Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medicine
Georgios Soultanidis — Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Ezzat Elmoujarkach — Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medicine

Guests

Fiammetta Pagano — Institute for Instrumentation in Molecular Imaging (i3M), Valencia, Spain
David Sánchez — Oncovision, Valencia, Spain

Topics Discussed

PET instrumentation • dedicated brain PET • UHB-PET • semi-monolithic detectors • LYSO scintillators • silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) • depth of interaction (DOI) • time of flight (TOF) • machine learning • detector multiplexing • scanner calibration • system commissioning • GATE Monte Carlo simulation • image reconstruction • inter-crystal scattering • artificial intelligence in detector technology

Produced and published by POSITROPTICS LLC.

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The views expressed by the hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily represent those of their respective institutions or organizations.