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Proceedings Article•DOI•

PeneloPET v3.0, an improved multiplatform PET Simulator

Alejandro Lopez-Montes1, Joaquin L. Herraiz1, Pablo Galve1, Samuel España1, Esther Vicente2, Jacobo Cal-Gonzalez, Jose Manuel Udias1 •
Complutense University of Madrid1, University of Maryland, Baltimore2
01 Oct 2019-
TL;DR: This new release includes improved simulations of the positron range in different materials and an accurate description of the decay cascades for many radioactive nuclei including the most common non-pure positron emitters used in PET.
Abstract: PeneloPET is a Monte Carlo simulation tool for positron emission tomography based on PENELOPE. It was developed by the Nuclear Physics Group at University Complutense of Madrid and its initial version was released in 2009. In this work, we present PeneloPET v3.0, which is now available precompiled for Microsoft Windows, MacOS and Linux OS. This new release includes improved simulations of the positron range in different materials and an accurate description of the decay cascades for many radioactive nuclei including the most common non-pure positron emitters used in PET. This enables the simulation of PET acquisitions with positron-gamma emitters. This release also includes many different fully-working examples, of both clinical and preclinical scanners, as well as several numerical phantoms. Due to the simplicity of the input the output files, and the installation process, PeneloPET v3.0 can be perfectly used not only for research, but also as an educational tool in class.

Summary (1 min read)

Jump to: [Introduction] – [A. Multiplatform version and simplified input/output] and [IV. CONCLUSIONS]

Introduction

  • This enables the simulation of PET acquisitions with positron-gamma emitters.
  • Moreover, this version has been compiled and released also for multiplatform, which make PeneloPET v3.0 more accessible to the user.
  • This work is also supported by EU's H2020 under MediNet, a Networking Activity of ENSAR-2 (grant agreement 654002).

A. Multiplatform version and simplified input/output

  • PeneloPET v3.0 release has been compiled and distributed for Microsoft Windows, Linux OS and Mac OS platforms, which make the use of PeneloPET v3.0 much easier.
  • The range profiles of the main β+ emitters used in PET as 18F, 11C, 13N or 15O and some other β+ emitters as 82Rb, 124I or 68Ga are provided for some of the most important materials in a usual PET study as water or cortical bone.
  • This feature allows the definition and the realistic simulation for complex isotopes with different decaying modes and for nonpure β+ emitters.
  • This generates a background of spurious coincidences[5].
  • VALIDATION OF THE NEW FEATURES FOR DIFFERENT SCANNER GEOMETRIES PeneloPET v3.0 has been tested using many different cases, and it includes a large library of scanner configurations emulating the most commonly used ones in preclinical and clinical imaging.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

  • The new features and improvements of the new release of the Monte Carlo PET simulator PeneloPET are presented.
  • It provides a large library of examples, improved physical considerations and the possibility of using PeneloPET in multiple OS.

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Abstract— PeneloPET is a Monte Carlo simulation tool for
positron emission tomography based on PENELOPE. It was
developed by the Nuclear Physics Group at University
Complutense of Madrid and its initial version was released in
2009. In this work, we present PeneloPET v3.0, which is now
available precompiled for Microsoft Windows, MacOS and Linux
OS. This new release includes improved simulations of the
positron range in different materials and an accurate description
of the decay cascades for many radioactive nuclei including the
most common non-pure positron emitters used in PET. This
enables the simulation of PET acquisitions with positron-gamma
emitters. This release also includes many different fully-working
examples, of both clinical and preclinical scanners, as well as
several numerical phantoms. Due to the simplicity of the input
the output files, and the installation process, PeneloPET v3.0 can
be perfectly used not only for research, but also as an educational
tool in class.
Key words— Monte Carlo simulations, Positron Emission
Tomography, PENELOPE.
I. INTRODUCTION
PeneloPET[1] is a Monte Carlo simulation tool[1,2] for
positron emission tomography (PET) based on
PENELOPE[3]. It was first released in 2009 by the Nuclear
Physics Group at Complutense University of Madrid. Since
the first release, some features have been improved and added,
making PeneloPET v3.0 more user-friendly, faster and with
improved physical considerations which make the simulations
more realistic and useful. These new features comprise of
improved simulations for positron range for different materials
and isotopes[4], a detailed simulation for self coincidence
detection[5] including the case of the inner activity of the
crystals of the scanner as well as the possibility of simulating
non-pure beta emitters and multiple gamma emissions[6],
incorporating the possibility of including decay cascades for
the nuclei and providing more realistic simulations.
This release includes a library with many examples for
geometries similar to the main current PET scanners, both for
preclinical and clinical PET. Moreover, this version has been
compiled and released also for multiplatform, which make
PeneloPET v3.0 more accessible to the user. In this work, we
This is a contribution to the Moncloa Campus of International Excellence.
Part of the calculations of this work were performed in the “Clúster de
Cálculo para Técnicas Físicas” funded in part by UCM and in part by UE
Regional Funds. We acknowledge support from the Spanish Government
(FPA2015-65035-P, RTC-2015-3772-2), from Comunidad de Madrid
(S2013/MIT-3024 TOPUS-CM, B2017/BMD-3888 PRONTO-CM) and
European Regional Funds. This work is also supported by EU's H2020 under
MediNet, a Networking Activity of ENSAR-2 (grant agreement 654002). This
work is also supported by NIH R01 CA215700-2 grant.
present the main improvements and additions since the first
release of PeneloPET and which are included in PeneloPET
v3.0 release.
II. NEW FEATURES
A. Multiplatform version and simplified input/output
PeneloPET v3.0 release has been compiled and distributed
for Microsoft Windows, Linux OS and Mac OS platforms,
which make the use of PeneloPET v3.0 much easier. Some
inputs and outputs have been reduced and simplified as well in
order to make PeneloPET more user-friendly and for a proper
compilation for multiplatform.
PeneloPET v3.0 also includes a tool to generate sinograms
from the coincidence output file with the specified usual
parameters (span, maximum ring-difference, segments...)
B. Improved simulation of positron range
In PeneloPET v3.0, new parametrized models of the
positron range distribution for different materials and isotopes
are included. The range profiles of the main β
+
emitters used
in PET as
18
F,
11
C,
13
N or
15
O and some other β
+
emitters as
82
Rb,
124
I or
68
Ga are provided for some of the most important
materials in a usual PET study as water or cortical bone. More
range profiles for different materials and isotopes can be easily
generated using PeneloPET v3.0.
C. Improved description of decay cascades for non-pure β
+
emitters.
PeneloPET v3.0 incorporates the possibility of including
decay cascades of the nucleus. This feature allows the
definition and the realistic simulation for complex isotopes
with different decaying modes and for nonpure β
+
emitters.
This is very useful to simulate triple coincidences (two
photons from the positron annihilation and another gamma
emission from the nucleus). The different branching ratios and
the particles emitted in each decaying process including the
energy of these particles can be easily defined in the input
files.
D. Intrinsic activity of
176
Lu
Most current PET scanners use crystals with Lutetium (LSO
or LYSO) because of their good physical properties. However,
the intrinsic activity of natural
176
Lu yields several prompt
gamma rays in cascade, with energies of 88, 202 and 307 keV.
This generates a background of spurious coincidences[5].
PeneloPET 3.0 can simulate properly the internal activity of
the crystals used in the scanner and the background of
coincidences that they generate.
PeneloPET v3.0, an improved multiplatform
PET Simulator
A.Lopez-Montes, J.L. Herraiz, P. Galve, S. España, E.Vicente, J. Cal-Gonzalez, J.M. Udias
III. VALIDATION OF THE NEW FEATURES FOR DIFFERENT
SCANNER GEOMETRIES
PeneloPET v3.0 has been tested using many different cases,
and it includes a large library of scanner configurations
emulating the most commonly used ones in preclinical and
clinical imaging. For example, in [2], it was evaluated against
the experimental values of sensitivity and NEC rates of several
Biograph PET/CT scanners. In Fig. 1, we present a
representation using gview3d[3] for some scanner geometries
included in the examples of the new release of PeneloPET
v3.0. Some inputs and outputs of the simulations
corresponding to the geometries presented in Fig. 1 are shown
in Figs. 2-5.
Fig. 1. Representation using gview3d[3]
of simulated scanners with different
geometries based on commercial PET scanners. A. INVEON preclinical
scanner (Siemens). B. SUPERARGUS PET/CT preclinical scanner 6-rings
version (SEDECAL). C. Biograph TPTV PET/CT clinical scanner (Siemens).
D. Discovery PET/CT clinical scanner (GE). E. Ingenuity PET/CT clinical
scanner (Phillips). Different environments (objects) for the simulations are
also shown. Each color in the figure represents a different material in the
simulation.
A. INVEON preclinical scanner
Fig. 2. (Left) Image of decays provided by PeneloPET during the simulation.
This image corresponds to a total of above 6·10
8
decay processes. This
simulation has been performed from a distribution of sources representing an
IQ NEMA phantom for a mouse size. (Right) Sinogram of true detections
generated by the sinogram functionality distributed with PeneloPET 3.0. This
sinogram corresponds to a total of 6.77·10
6
detected counts with 175 radial
bins and 128 angular bins. SSRB has been applied to obtain a rebinned
sinogram.
B. SUPERARGUS preclinical scanner
Fig. 3. (Left) Image of decays provided by PeneloPET during the simulation.
This image corresponds to a total of above 5·10
8
decay processes. This
simulation has been performed from a numerical phantom representing the
uptake of FDG in a mouse. (Right) Sinogram of true detections generated by
the sinogram functionality distributed with PeneloPET 3.0 with a total of
1.36·10
7
detected counts with 175 radial and 128 angular bins. SSRB has been
applied to obtain a rebinned sinogram.
C. Biograph clinical scanner
Fig. 4. (Left) Voxelized source obtained from a numerical phantom used for
the simulation of the uptake of NaF in a human torso. (Right). Sinogram of
true detections generated by the sinogram functionality distributed with
PeneloPET 3.0. This sinogram corresponds to a total of 4·10
6
detected true
counts with 336 radial bins and 336 angular bins. 3D sinogram with no
rebinning is shown and the different segments can be appreciated.
D. Other clinical scanner
Fig. 5. (Left) Image of above 6·10
8
decay processes provided by PeneloPET
during the simulation of the activity distribution of
18
F in an IQ NEMA
phantom for clinical scanners. (Middle) Sinogram for Discovery PET/CT
scanner (GE) geometry of true detections generated by the sinogram
functionality distributed with PeneloPET 3.0 with a total of 2.49·10
6
detected
counts with 300 radial and 320 angular bins. (Right) Sinogram for Ingenuity
PET/CT scanner (Phillips) of true detections. 1.59·10
6
detected counts in the
sinogram with 480 radial and 336 angular bins. SSRB has been applied to
obtain a rebinned sinograms.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this work, the new features and improvements of the new
release of the Monte Carlo PET simulator PeneloPET are
presented. It provides a large library of examples, improved
physical considerations and the possibility of using PeneloPET
in multiple OS.
REFERENCES
[1] S.España et al. “PeneloPET, a Monte Carlo PET simulation tool
based on PENELOPE: features and validation”. Physics in Medicine
& Biology, 54(6), 1723. 2009
[2] S.Jan et al. "GATE V6: a major enhancement of the GATE
simulation platform enabling modelling of CT and radiotherapy."
Physics in Medicine & Biology 56.4, 881. 2011
[3] F.Salvat, J.M.Fernández-Varea, and J. Sempau. “PENELOPE-2008:
A code system for Monte Carlo simulation of electron and photon
transport.” Workshop Proceedings (Vol. 4, No. 6222, p. 7). July
2006.
[4] J.Cal-González et al. "Positron range estimations with PeneloPET."
Physics in Medicine & Biology 58.15, 5127. 2013
[5] M.Conti, L.Eriksson, H.Rothfuss, T.Sjoeholm, D. Townsend,
G.Rosenqvist, T.Carlier. “Characterization of 176Lu background in
LSO-based PET scanners”. Physics in Medicine & Biology, 62(9),
3700. 2017
[6] J.Cal-González et al. "Simulation of triple coincidences in PET."
Physics in Medicine & Biology 60.1, 117. 2014
[7] K.M.Abushab et al. "PeneloPET simulations of the Biograph ToF
clinical PET scanner." 2011 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium
Conference Record. IEEE, 2011
Citations
More filters
Journal Article•DOI•
In vivo production of fluorine-18 in a chicken egg tumor model of breast cancer for proton therapy range verification

[...]

Samuel España, D. Sánchez-Parcerisa, Paloma Bragado, Alvaro Gutierrez-Uzquiza, Almudena Porras, C. Gutierrez-Neira, A. Espinosa, Víctor Valladolid Onecha, P. Ibáñez, V. Sánchez-Tembleque, J. M. Udías, Luis Martín Fraile 
30 Apr 2022-Dental science reports
TL;DR: In this article , the authors investigated the possibility of using 18O-enriched water (18-W), a potential contrast agent that could be incorporated in large proportions in live tissues by replacing regular water.
Abstract: Range verification of clinical protontherapy systems via positron-emission tomography (PET) is not a mature technology, suffering from two major issues: insufficient signal from low-energy protons in the Bragg peak area and biological washout of PET emitters. The use of contrast agents including 18O, 68Zn or 63Cu, isotopes with a high cross section for low-energy protons in nuclear reactions producing PET emitters, has been proposed to enhance the PET signal in the last millimeters of the proton path. However, it remains a challenge to achieve sufficient concentrations of these isotopes in the target volume. Here we investigate the possibilities of 18O-enriched water (18-W), a potential contrast agent that could be incorporated in large proportions in live tissues by replacing regular water. We hypothesize that 18-W could also mitigate the problem of biological washout, as PET (18F) isotopes created inside live cells would remain trapped in the form of fluoride anions (F-), allowing its signal to be detected even hours after irradiation. To test our hypothesis, we designed an experiment with two main goals: first, prove that 18-W can incorporate enough 18O into a living organism to produce a detectable signal from 18F after proton irradiation, and second, determine the amount of activity that remains trapped inside the cells. The experiment was performed on a chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane tumor model of head and neck cancer. Seven eggs with visible tumors were infused with 18-W and irradiated with 8-MeV protons (range in water: 0.74 mm), equivalent to clinical protons at the end of particle range. The activity produced after irradiation was detected and quantified in a small-animal PET-CT scanner, and further studied by placing ex-vivo tumours in a gamma radiation detector. In the acquired images, specific activity of 18F (originating from 18-W) could be detected in the tumour area of the alive chicken embryo up to 9 h after irradiation, which confirms that low-energy protons can indeed produce a detectable PET signal if a suitable contrast agent is employed. Moreover, dynamic PET studies in two of the eggs evidenced a minimal effect of biological washout, with 68% retained specific 18F activity at 8 h after irradiation. Furthermore, ex-vivo analysis of 4 irradiated tumours showed that up to 3% of oxygen atoms in the targets were replaced by 18O from infused 18-W, and evidenced an entrapment of 59% for specific activity of 18F after washing, supporting our hypothesis that F- ions remain trapped within the cells. An infusion of 18-W can incorporate 18O in animal tissues by replacing regular water inside cells, producing a PET signal when irradiated with low-energy protons that could be used for range verification in protontherapy. 18F produced inside cells remains entrapped and suffers from minimal biological washout, allowing for a sharper localization with longer PET acquisitions. Further studies must evaluate the feasibility of this technique in dosimetric conditions closer to clinical practice, in order to define potential protocols for its use in patients.

1 citations

Journal Article•DOI•
In vivo production of fluorine-18 in a chicken egg tumor model of breast cancer for proton therapy range verification

[...]

Samuel España, D. Sánchez-Parcerisa, Paloma Bragado, Alvaro Gutierrez-Uzquiza, Almudena Porras, C. Gutierrez-Neira, A. Espinosa, Víctor Valladolid Onecha, P. Ibáñez, V. Sánchez-Tembleque, J. M. Udías, Luis Martín Fraile 
30 Apr 2022-Dental science reports
TL;DR: In this article , the authors investigated the possibility of using 18O-enriched water (18-W), a potential contrast agent that could be incorporated in large proportions in live tissues by replacing regular water.
Abstract: Range verification of clinical protontherapy systems via positron-emission tomography (PET) is not a mature technology, suffering from two major issues: insufficient signal from low-energy protons in the Bragg peak area and biological washout of PET emitters. The use of contrast agents including 18O, 68Zn or 63Cu, isotopes with a high cross section for low-energy protons in nuclear reactions producing PET emitters, has been proposed to enhance the PET signal in the last millimeters of the proton path. However, it remains a challenge to achieve sufficient concentrations of these isotopes in the target volume. Here we investigate the possibilities of 18O-enriched water (18-W), a potential contrast agent that could be incorporated in large proportions in live tissues by replacing regular water. We hypothesize that 18-W could also mitigate the problem of biological washout, as PET (18F) isotopes created inside live cells would remain trapped in the form of fluoride anions (F-), allowing its signal to be detected even hours after irradiation. To test our hypothesis, we designed an experiment with two main goals: first, prove that 18-W can incorporate enough 18O into a living organism to produce a detectable signal from 18F after proton irradiation, and second, determine the amount of activity that remains trapped inside the cells. The experiment was performed on a chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane tumor model of head and neck cancer. Seven eggs with visible tumors were infused with 18-W and irradiated with 8-MeV protons (range in water: 0.74 mm), equivalent to clinical protons at the end of particle range. The activity produced after irradiation was detected and quantified in a small-animal PET-CT scanner, and further studied by placing ex-vivo tumours in a gamma radiation detector. In the acquired images, specific activity of 18F (originating from 18-W) could be detected in the tumour area of the alive chicken embryo up to 9 h after irradiation, which confirms that low-energy protons can indeed produce a detectable PET signal if a suitable contrast agent is employed. Moreover, dynamic PET studies in two of the eggs evidenced a minimal effect of biological washout, with 68% retained specific 18F activity at 8 h after irradiation. Furthermore, ex-vivo analysis of 4 irradiated tumours showed that up to 3% of oxygen atoms in the targets were replaced by 18O from infused 18-W, and evidenced an entrapment of 59% for specific activity of 18F after washing, supporting our hypothesis that F- ions remain trapped within the cells. An infusion of 18-W can incorporate 18O in animal tissues by replacing regular water inside cells, producing a PET signal when irradiated with low-energy protons that could be used for range verification in protontherapy. 18F produced inside cells remains entrapped and suffers from minimal biological washout, allowing for a sharper localization with longer PET acquisitions. Further studies must evaluate the feasibility of this technique in dosimetric conditions closer to clinical practice, in order to define potential protocols for its use in patients.

1 citations

References
More filters
PENELOPE-2006: A Code System for Monte Carlo Simulation of Electron and Photon Transport

[...]

Francesc Salvat, José M. Fernández-Varea, Josep Sempau, Facultat de Fisica
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: The PENELOPE as mentioned in this paper computer code system performs Monte Carlo simulation of coupled electron-photon transport in arbitrary materials for a wide energy range, from a few hundred eV to about 1 GeV.
Abstract: The computer code system PENELOPE (version 2008) performs Monte Carlo simulation of coupled electron-photon transport in arbitrary materials for a wide energy range, from a few hundred eV to about 1 GeV. Photon transport is simulated by means of the standard, detailed simulation scheme. Electron and positron histories are generated on the basis of a mixed procedure, which combines detailed simulation of hard events with condensed simulation of soft interactions. A geometry package called PENGEOM permits the generation of random electron-photon showers in material systems consisting of homogeneous bodies limited by quadric surfaces, i.e., planes, spheres, cylinders, etc. This report is intended not only to serve as a manual of the PENELOPE code system, but also to provide the user with the necessary information to understand the details of the Monte Carlo algorithm.

1,675 citations

"PeneloPET v3.0, an improved multipl..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...Representation using gview3d[3] of simulated scanners with different geometries based on commercial PET scanners....

    [...]

  • ...[1] S.España et al. “PeneloPET, a Monte Carlo PET simulation tool based on PENELOPE: features and validation”....

    [...]

  • ...I. INTRODUCTION ENELOPET[1] is a Monte Carlo simulation tool[1,2] for positron emission tomography (PET) based on PENELOPE[3]....

    [...]

  • ...Abstract– PeneloPET is a Monte Carlo simulation tool for positron emission tomography based on PENELOPE....

    [...]

  • ...ENELOPET[1] is a Monte Carlo simulation tool[1,2] for positron emission tomography (PET) based on PENELOPE[3]....

    [...]

Journal Article•DOI•
GATE V6: a major enhancement of the GATE simulation platform enabling modelling of CT and radiotherapy

[...]

Sébastien Jan1, D. Benoit, E. Becheva, Thomas Carlier, F. Cassol, Patrice Descourt, Thibault Frisson, L. Grevillot, Laurent Guigues, Lydia Maigne, C. Morel, Yann Perrot, Niklas S. Rehfeld, David Sarrut, Dennis R. Schaart2, Simon Stute, Uwe Pietrzyk3, Dimitris Visvikis, N. Zahra, Irène Buvat •
French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission1, Delft University of Technology2, University of Wuppertal3
21 Feb 2011-Physics in Medicine and Biology
TL;DR: An overview of the main additions and improvements implemented in GATE since the publication of the initial GATE paper is presented, which includes new models available to simulate optical and hadronic processes, novelties in modelling tracer, organ or detector motion, new options for speeding up GATE simulations, and preliminary results regarding the validation of GATE V6 for radiation therapy applications.
Abstract: GATE (Geant4 Application for Emission Tomography) is a Monte Carlo simulation platform developed by the OpenGATE collaboration since 2001 and first publicly released in 2004. Dedicated to the modelling of planar scintigraphy, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) acquisitions, this platform is widely used to assist PET and SPECT research. A recent extension of this platform, released by the OpenGATE collaboration as GATE V6, now also enables modelling of x-ray computed tomography and radiation therapy experiments. This paper presents an overview of the main additions and improvements implemented in GATE since the publication of the initial GATE paper (Jan et al 2004 Phys. Med. Biol. 49 4543–61). This includes new models available in GATE to simulate optical and hadronic processes, novelties in modelling tracer, organ or detector motion, new options for speeding up GATE simulations, examples illustrating the use of GATE V6 in radiotherapy applications and 0031-9155/11/040881+21$33.00 © 2011 Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine Printed in the UK 881

706 citations

"PeneloPET v3.0, an improved multipl..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...ENELOPET[1] is a Monte Carlo simulation tool[1,2] for positron emission tomography (PET) based on PENELOPE[3]....

    [...]

  • ...For example, in [2], it was evaluated against...

    [...]

Journal Article•DOI•
PeneloPET, a Monte Carlo PET simulation tool based on PENELOPE: features and validation.

[...]

Samuel España1, Joaquin L. Herraiz1, Esther Vicente2, Esther Vicente1, Juan José Vaquero3, Manuel Desco3, Jose Manuel Udias1 •
Complutense University of Madrid1, Spanish National Research Council2, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón3
25 Feb 2009-Physics in Medicine and Biology
TL;DR: The features of PeneloPET are presented as well as validations against other dedicated PET simulation programs and two real scanners, and a tookit is developed to prepare simulations of PET and SPECT within PENELOPE.
Abstract: Monte Carlo simulations play an important role in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, as an essential tool for the research and development of new scanners and for advanced image reconstruction. PeneloPET, a PET-dedicated Monte Carlo tool, is presented and validated in this work. PeneloPET is based on PENELOPE, a Monte Carlo code for the simulation of the transport in matter of electrons, positrons and photons, with energies from a few hundred eV to 1 GeV. PENELOPE is robust, fast and very accurate, but it may be unfriendly to people not acquainted with the FORTRAN programming language. PeneloPET is an easy-to-use application which allows comprehensive simulations of PET systems within PENELOPE. Complex and realistic simulations can be set by modifying a few simple input text files. Different levels of output data are available for analysis, from sinogram and lines-of-response (LORs) histogramming to fully detailed list mode. These data can be further exploited with the preferred programming language, including ROOT. PeneloPET simulates PET systems based on crystal array blocks coupled to photodetectors and allows the user to define radioactive sources, detectors, shielding and other parts of the scanner. The acquisition chain is simulated in high level detail; for instance, the electronic processing can include pile-up rejection mechanisms and time stamping of events, if desired. This paper describes PeneloPET and shows the results of extensive validations and comparisons of simulations against real measurements from commercial acquisition systems. PeneloPET is being extensively employed to improve the image quality of commercial PET systems and for the development of new ones.

90 citations

"PeneloPET v3.0, an improved multipl..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...ENELOPET[1] is a Monte Carlo simulation tool[1,2] for positron emission tomography (PET) based on PENELOPE[3]....

    [...]

Journal Article•DOI•
Positron range estimations with PeneloPET

[...]

Jacobo Cal-Gonzalez1, Joaquin L. Herraiz2, Samuel España3, P.M.G. Corzo1, Juan José Vaquero4, Manuel Desco4, Manuel Desco5, J. M. Udias1 •
Complutense University of Madrid1, Massachusetts Institute of Technology2, Ghent University Hospital3, Charles III University of Madrid4, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón5
09 Jul 2013-Physics in Medicine and Biology
TL;DR: This work presents positron annihilation distributions obtained from Monte Carlo simulations with the PeneloPET simulation toolkit, for several common PET isotopes in different biological media, and confirms that scaling approaches can be used to obtain universal, material and isotope independent, positron range profiles.
Abstract: Technical advances towards high resolution PET imaging try to overcome the inherent physical limitations to spatial resolution. Positrons travel in tissue until they annihilate into the two gamma photons detected. This range is the main detector-independent contribution to PET imaging blurring. To a large extent, it can be remedied during image reconstruction if accurate estimates of positron range are available. However, the existing estimates differ, and the comparison with the scarce experimental data available is not conclusive. In this work we present positron annihilation distributions obtained from Monte Carlo simulations with the PeneloPET simulation toolkit, for several common PET isotopes (18F, 11C, 13N, 15O, 68Ga and 82Rb) in different biological media (cortical bone, soft bone, skin, muscle striated, brain, water, adipose tissue and lung). We compare PeneloPET simulations against experimental data and other simulation results available in the literature. To this end the different positron range representations employed in the literature are related to each other by means of a new parameterization for positron range profiles. Our results are generally consistent with experiments and with most simulations previously reported with differences of less than 20% in the mean and maximum range values. From these results, we conclude that better experimental measurements are needed, especially to disentangle the effect of positronium formation in positron range. Finally, with the aid of PeneloPET, we confirm that scaling approaches can be used to obtain universal, material and isotope independent, positron range profiles, which would considerably simplify range correction.

61 citations

"PeneloPET v3.0, an improved multipl..." refers background in this paper

  • ...and isotopes[4], a detailed simulation for self-coincidence detection[5] including the case of the inner activity of the crystals of the scanner as well as the possibility of simulating non-pure beta emitters and multiple gamma emissions[6], incorporating the possibility of including decay cascades for the nuclei and providing more realistic simulations....

    [...]

Journal Article•DOI•
Simulation of triple coincidences in PET

[...]

Jacobo Cal-Gonzalez1, Eduardo Lage2, Elena Herranz1, Esther Vicente1, J. M. Udias1, Stephen C. Moore3, Mi-Ae Park3, Shivang R. Dave2, Vicente Parot2, Joaquin L. Herraiz2 •
Complutense University of Madrid1, Massachusetts Institute of Technology2, Brigham and Women's Hospital3
07 Jan 2015-Physics in Medicine and Biology
TL;DR: The Monte Carlo (MC) simulator PeneloPET was extended and validated and the feasibility of using multiple-coincidence events in several clinical PET/CT scanners, such as the Siemens Biograph TruePoint TrueV (B-TPTV), the GE Discovery-690 and the Philips Ingenuity scanners, was evaluated.
Abstract: Although current PET scanners are designed and optimized to detect double coincidence events, there is a significant amount of triple coincidences in any PET acquisition. Triple coincidences may arise from causes such as: inter-detector scatter (IDS), random triple interactions (RT), or the detection of prompt gamma rays in coincidence with annihilation photons when non-pure positron-emitting radionuclides are used (β(+)γ events). Depending on the data acquisition settings of the PET scanner, these triple events are discarded or processed as a set of double coincidences if the energy of the three detected events is within the scanner's energy window. This latter option introduces noise in the data, as at most, only one of the possible lines-of-response defined by triple interactions corresponds to the line along which the decay occurred. Several novel works have pointed out the possibility of using triple events to increase the sensitivity of PET scanners or to expand PET imaging capabilities by allowing differentiation between radiotracers labeled with non-pure and pure positron-emitting radionuclides. In this work, we extended the Monte Carlo simulator PeneloPET to assess the proportion of triple coincidences in PET acquisitions and to evaluate their possible applications. We validated the results of the simulator against experimental data acquired with a modified version of a commercial preclinical PET/CT scanner, which was enabled to acquire and process triple-coincidence events. We used as figures of merit the energy spectra for double and triple coincidences and the triples-to-doubles ratio for different energy windows and radionuclides. After validation, the simulator was used to predict the relative quantity of triple-coincidence events in two clinical scanners assuming different acquisition settings. Good agreement between simulations and preclinical experiments was found, with differences below 10% for most of the observables considered. For clinical scanners and pure positron emitters, we found that around 10% of the processed double events come from triple coincidences, increasing this ratio substantially for non-pure emitters (around 25% for (124)I and > 50% for (86)Y). For radiotracers labeled with (18)F we found that the relative quantity of IDS events in standard acquisitions is around 18% for the preclinical scanner and between 14 and 22% for the clinical scanners. For non-pure positron emitters like (124)I, we found a β(+)γ triples-to-doubles ratio of 2.5% in the preclinical scanner and of up to 4% in the clinical scanners.

30 citations

"PeneloPET v3.0, an improved multipl..." refers background in this paper

  • ...and isotopes[4], a detailed simulation for self-coincidence detection[5] including the case of the inner activity of the crystals of the scanner as well as the possibility of simulating non-pure beta emitters and multiple gamma emissions[6], incorporating the possibility of including decay cascades for the nuclei and providing more realistic simulations....

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Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Q1. What are the contributions in this paper?

In this work, the authors present PeneloPET v3. This release also includes many different fully-working examples, of both clinical and preclinical scanners, as well as several numerical phantoms. 

It provides a large library of examples, improved physical considerations and the possibility of using PeneloPET in multiple OS.