Thomas Benner1, Andre J. W. van der Kouwe1, Ciprian Catana1, Michael Hamm2, A. Gregory Sorensen1, Bruce R. Rosen1
1Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center, Charlestown, MA, USA; 2Siemens Medical Solutions, Charlestown, MA, USA
New combined MR-PET systems allow simultaneous acquisition of MR and PET data. We sought to evaluate the effect of the PET insert of a BrainPET prototype on the quality of the MR data with regard to RF noise, shim, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and temporal SNR. Two sets of scans were performed: with the PET insert in operating mode in the scanner bore and with the PET insert switched off outside the bore. The result show that the PET insert does not appear to have any significant effect on the MR scanner data regarding RF noise, shim, SNR and temporal SNR.