# HyPET: A Hybrid TOF, DOI PET Detector for a Prostate Specific Imaging System

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $224,073

## Abstract

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most important health issues facing the male population. In both the United
States and Europe, it is the most common form of cancer in men and is currently the second most common
cause of cancer death in men. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing and trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS)
examination allow early detection of PCA; however, neither exam is very specific and most patients require
trans-rectal biopsy for confirmation and staging of the disease. However, biopsy is invasive and is susceptible
to sampling errors. Further if after initial biopsy, the diagnosis is considered low risk, the patient is put on active
surveillance that may require biopsy follow-up on a fairly regular basis. Thus, the long term goal of this project
is to develop imaging technology that will replace biopsy as the gold standard for PCa diagnosis and staging.
The optimism for an imaging based PCa biomarker is being driven by the recent development of a number of
highly targeted positron emission tomography (PET) tracers for PCa cells. The goal of this project is to develop
advanced PET detector imaging technology that will enable the development of moderate cost, high image
resolution, prostate specific PET imaging systems. A two curved panel detector geometry will be utilized. To
support artifact-free prostate imaging, the panel detectors will support time-of-flight (TOF) PET imaging with a
goal of <150 psec coincidence timing resolution. In addition, the imaging system will support <1.5 mm full width
at half maximum (FWHM) image resolution. To accomplish this goal, a hybrid PET (HyPET) detector will be
developed with sub-units that will meet or exceed the overall design goals. Each HyPET detector will consist of
two independent detector layers. The front layer will be optimized for coincidence timing resolution (i.e., <150
psec). The rear detector will be optimized for intrinsic spatial resolution, depth of interaction (DOI) positioning
resolution and detection efficiency. It will utilize a monolithic crystal detector design. Using numerical and
anthropomorphic digital phantoms realistic uptake distributions will be simulated to optimize the design of
HyPET detectors and system geometry. Prototype HyPET detectors based upon the optimum design
configurations derived from the simulation studies will be fabricated and tested for coincidence timing
resolution, intrinsic and coincidence spatial resolution, energy resolution and detection efficiency. In addition, a
tailored Penalized Weighted Least Squares image reconstruction approach using the <150 psec TOF data to
create an image prior and optimized weighting of all the different types of hybrid coincidence data will be
developed and optimized to provide high resolution, artifact-free images. At the end of this project, a novel
hybrid PET detector will have been designed and tested to support the development of a high performance,
panel-based, prostate specific, PET imaging system. Whi...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9984139
- **Project number:** 1R21EB028420-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Robert S Miyaoka
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $224,073
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9984139

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9984139, HyPET: A Hybrid TOF, DOI PET Detector for a Prostate Specific Imaging System (1R21EB028420-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9984139. Licensed CC0.

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