The Preclinical Imaging Laboratory is equipped with the Siemens Inveon micropositron emission tomography–computed tomography (micro-PET/CT) scanner.

Micro-PET/CT Specifications

The high-resolution micro-PET/CT scanner is equipped with a 64-block PET detector interfaced to 64 channels for efficient operation and high quantitative accuracy.

The 12-cm bore–size PET system (detector diameter: 16.1 cm; transaxial active field of view [FOV]: 10 cm; axial FOV: 12.7 cm) supports mouse, rat, and other in vivo small animal molecular imaging protocols. The micro-PET system is fit for single-animal scanning with a spatial resolution of 1.4 mm at the center of the FOV, in which the axial direction can extend up to 50 cm through continuous bed motion.

The built-in CT module, integrated with a common acquisition architecture, is equipped with an 80-W, 35- to 80-kVp tungsten-anode X-ray source, which has a less-than-50-mm focal spot and a 125-mm diagonal X-ray detector configuration with a 3,702 × 2,048 charge-coupled device (CCD) array equipped with 33 × 33 μm pixels. The CT resolution is 20 μm with the variable focus X-ray source and 40 μm with the standard source.

The platform enables efficient and smooth acquisition, as well as processing of multimodal data in a single session. It has an automatic transition between the micro-CT and micro-PET modalities, enabling seamless postprocessing, image review, fusion, and analysis.

Animals can be isolated after imaging. A dedicated laboratory technician can assist. We offer analysis of static and dynamic data sets using advanced Siemens quantitation software and additional third-party solutions.

This installation, located in the vicinity of the vivarium and satellite animal housing, facilitates serial measurements and time-course studies in individual animals, thereby minimizing interanimal variability.