Abstract #0786

Odegaard J, Peng H, Handler W, Simpson P, Chronik B

The integration of anatomical and functional imaging modality such as PET/CT and PET/MRI has caused intensive interests in the recent years, which provide more accurate diagnosis information and effective patient management. PET resolution is mainly determined by the point spread function (PSF) of isotopes, detector size ands system diameter. MRI can improve the PET system resolution by reducing the PSF. This effect is most significant in small animal PET system and for high energy isotopes such as 68Ga and 82Rb. A Monte-Carlo simulation was used to study the PET system resolution improvement as a function of different magnetic field strengths, for a small animal PET system.