Development and Evaluation of a Breast PET/MRI Insert Prototype for a Clinical Whole-Body PET/MRI Scanner
 

DFG 658/19
 

The goal of this project is toward the development and evaluation of a PET/MRI insert for breast imaging for the Biograph mMR that overcomes the current limitations inherent to the measurements performed with standalone whole-body PET/MRI scanners. In addition to a boost of sensitivity, the most remarkable features of the breast PET insert are a high spatial resolution and the ability to resolve fine metastases in the region of the thorax and axilla with a superior resolution. This is enabled by the combination of events simultaneously acquired by the breast PET insert and the whole-body PET scanner. The hardware acquisition of these mixed events embedded inside an MRI scanner and the incorporation and optimization of this method into the image reconstruction process are subject of the proposed work.
The subprojects, which will be elaborated in the scope of the proposed work, are not only a prerequisite for building the final insert but will also foster the understanding and gather a deeper insight in the respective field.

PIs:

Prof. Dr. Bernd J. Pichler, Department of Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, University Hospital Tuebingen, Germany

Prof. Klaus Scheffler, High Field Magnetic Resonance Department, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, Germany

Prof. Dr. Magdalena Rafecas, Institute for Medical Engineering, University of Lübeck, Germany