Abstract #1547

Magnetic Field Exposure Tests on a Siemens Inveon Small Animal PET System: A Feasibility Study for Multimodality PET and Field-Cyled MRI

Geron Andre Bindseil¹, William B. Handler¹, Timothy J. Scholl¹, Blaine A. Chronik¹

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

One approach to PET/MRI is to use field-cycled (FCMRI) with a conventional PMT-based PET system. Combining PET with FCMRI would enable the use of commercially available, highly optimized PET systems with little physical modification. For this approach to be feasible, the PET detectors must experience no permanent changes in gain or efficiency after exposure to magnetic fields. The authors present results from a preliminary feasibility study testing the performance of a commercial small-animal PET system after exposure to magnetic fields. No significant permanent changes were observed in PET imaging performance.