Geron
A. Bindseil1, William B. Handler1, Blaine A. Chronik1,
2
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; 2Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
In simultaneous PET-MRI, the RF coil is located within the PET ring. Many RF coils consist of a symmetrical arrangement of discrete highly attenuating components: solder and capacitors. The authors investigated the effect of a birdcage RF coil on PET image artifacts and noise through a comprehensive Monte Carlo simulation utilizing the commercial reconstruction software of the small-animal system modeled. Attenuation-corrected PET images from simulations with and without an RF coil were compared. The RF coil case had 40% higher scatter fraction, 25% higher noise and artifacts. RF coils having discrete components in the PET FOV should be designed carefully.