Marta Freire, Santiago Jiménez-Serrano, Andrea Gonzalez-Montoro, Francisco B García, José F Toledo, Julio Barberá, Jorge Álamo, Irene Torres-Espallardo, Luis F Vidal, Francis Loignon-Houle, Carlos de Alfonso, Sara Echegoyen, María J Rodríguez-Álvarez, Filomeno Sánchez, Antonio J González
{"title":"乳房成像无边缘PET原型的设计和第一个实验结果：DeepBreast。","authors":"Marta Freire, Santiago Jiménez-Serrano, Andrea Gonzalez-Montoro, Francisco B García, José F Toledo, Julio Barberá, Jorge Álamo, Irene Torres-Espallardo, Luis F Vidal, Francis Loignon-Houle, Carlos de Alfonso, Sara Echegoyen, María J Rodríguez-Álvarez, Filomeno Sánchez, Antonio J González","doi":"10.1186/s40658-026-00869-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Breast cancer causes the largest number of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. With the aim of improving Positron Emission Tomography (PET) technology for accurate breast cancer diagnosis and staging, we propose a system design based on monolithic crystals with inherent Depth of Interaction (DOI) capabilities and an innovative edgeless detector ring. This approach eliminates the physical gaps between PET detectors, improving the system detection efficiency while potentially enhancing the image quality since edge effects are reduced. We have developed a dedicated breast PET system prototype (DeepBreast) to show the feasibility of this design. The system is composed of 14 curved LYSO monolithic scintillators of 12.5 mm thickness glued side-by-side with a high-refractive index compound. The useful transaxial and axial Field of View (FOV) of the system are 160 mm and 50 mm, respectively. A Neural Network technique was used for the x- and y- photon impact position estimation. The impact DOI and energy values were determined using the Voronoi calibration methodology. An initial experimental evaluation of the DeepBreast system has been performed inspired by the NEMA protocols for whole-body and small-animals PET scanners.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A nearly flat spatial resolution as a function of radial position was obtained, which indicates the DOI capability of the system to mitigate parallax errors. An average spatial resolution of 1.9 ± 0.1 mm, 1.9 ± 0.1 mm and 1.7 ± 0.1 mm FWHM was achieved at the center of the axial FOV for the radial, tangential, and axial directions, respectively. A maximum sensitivity value of 2% was measured at the center of the FOV. The noise equivalent count rate peak reached 15 kcps at 13.4 MBq. Moreover, percent contrast values of 27.9%, 28.8%, 56.8%, 72.5%, 87.2% and 84.2% were achieved for 4.5 mm, 6 mm, 9 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm and 20 mm cylinders of a larger dedicated IQ phantom, respectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The initial experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the DeepBreast as an innovative PET scanner for breast cancer imaging.</p>","PeriodicalId":11559,"journal":{"name":"EJNMMI Physics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2026-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Design and first experimental results of an edgeless PET prototype for breast imaging: DeepBreast.\",\"authors\":\"Marta Freire, Santiago Jiménez-Serrano, Andrea Gonzalez-Montoro, Francisco B García, José F Toledo, Julio Barberá, Jorge Álamo, Irene Torres-Espallardo, Luis F Vidal, Francis Loignon-Houle, Carlos de Alfonso, Sara Echegoyen, María J Rodríguez-Álvarez, Filomeno Sánchez, Antonio J González\",\"doi\":\"10.1186/s40658-026-00869-1\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Breast cancer causes the largest number of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. With the aim of improving Positron Emission Tomography (PET) technology for accurate breast cancer diagnosis and staging, we propose a system design based on monolithic crystals with inherent Depth of Interaction (DOI) capabilities and an innovative edgeless detector ring. This approach eliminates the physical gaps between PET detectors, improving the system detection efficiency while potentially enhancing the image quality since edge effects are reduced. We have developed a dedicated breast PET system prototype (DeepBreast) to show the feasibility of this design. The system is composed of 14 curved LYSO monolithic scintillators of 12.5 mm thickness glued side-by-side with a high-refractive index compound. The useful transaxial and axial Field of View (FOV) of the system are 160 mm and 50 mm, respectively. A Neural Network technique was used for the x- and y- photon impact position estimation. The impact DOI and energy values were determined using the Voronoi calibration methodology. An initial experimental evaluation of the DeepBreast system has been performed inspired by the NEMA protocols for whole-body and small-animals PET scanners.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A nearly flat spatial resolution as a function of radial position was obtained, which indicates the DOI capability of the system to mitigate parallax errors. An average spatial resolution of 1.9 ± 0.1 mm, 1.9 ± 0.1 mm and 1.7 ± 0.1 mm FWHM was achieved at the center of the axial FOV for the radial, tangential, and axial directions, respectively. A maximum sensitivity value of 2% was measured at the center of the FOV. The noise equivalent count rate peak reached 15 kcps at 13.4 MBq. Moreover, percent contrast values of 27.9%, 28.8%, 56.8%, 72.5%, 87.2% and 84.2% were achieved for 4.5 mm, 6 mm, 9 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm and 20 mm cylinders of a larger dedicated IQ phantom, respectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The initial experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the DeepBreast as an innovative PET scanner for breast cancer imaging.</p>\",\"PeriodicalId\":11559,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"EJNMMI Physics\",\"volume\":\" \",\"pages\":\"\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":3.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2026-04-16\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"EJNMMI Physics\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"3\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40658-026-00869-1\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"医学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"RADIOLOGY, NUCLEAR MEDICINE & MEDICAL IMAGING\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"EJNMMI Physics","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40658-026-00869-1","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"RADIOLOGY, NUCLEAR MEDICINE & MEDICAL IMAGING","Score":null,"Total":0}
Design and first experimental results of an edgeless PET prototype for breast imaging: DeepBreast.
Background: Breast cancer causes the largest number of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. With the aim of improving Positron Emission Tomography (PET) technology for accurate breast cancer diagnosis and staging, we propose a system design based on monolithic crystals with inherent Depth of Interaction (DOI) capabilities and an innovative edgeless detector ring. This approach eliminates the physical gaps between PET detectors, improving the system detection efficiency while potentially enhancing the image quality since edge effects are reduced. We have developed a dedicated breast PET system prototype (DeepBreast) to show the feasibility of this design. The system is composed of 14 curved LYSO monolithic scintillators of 12.5 mm thickness glued side-by-side with a high-refractive index compound. The useful transaxial and axial Field of View (FOV) of the system are 160 mm and 50 mm, respectively. A Neural Network technique was used for the x- and y- photon impact position estimation. The impact DOI and energy values were determined using the Voronoi calibration methodology. An initial experimental evaluation of the DeepBreast system has been performed inspired by the NEMA protocols for whole-body and small-animals PET scanners.
Results: A nearly flat spatial resolution as a function of radial position was obtained, which indicates the DOI capability of the system to mitigate parallax errors. An average spatial resolution of 1.9 ± 0.1 mm, 1.9 ± 0.1 mm and 1.7 ± 0.1 mm FWHM was achieved at the center of the axial FOV for the radial, tangential, and axial directions, respectively. A maximum sensitivity value of 2% was measured at the center of the FOV. The noise equivalent count rate peak reached 15 kcps at 13.4 MBq. Moreover, percent contrast values of 27.9%, 28.8%, 56.8%, 72.5%, 87.2% and 84.2% were achieved for 4.5 mm, 6 mm, 9 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm and 20 mm cylinders of a larger dedicated IQ phantom, respectively.
Conclusions: The initial experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the DeepBreast as an innovative PET scanner for breast cancer imaging.
期刊介绍：
EJNMMI Physics is an international platform for scientists, users and adopters of nuclear medicine with a particular interest in physics matters. As a companion journal to the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, this journal has a multi-disciplinary approach and welcomes original materials and studies with a focus on applied physics and mathematics as well as imaging systems engineering and prototyping in nuclear medicine. This includes physics-driven approaches or algorithms supported by physics that foster early clinical adoption of nuclear medicine imaging and therapy.
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