Ciprian Catana1, Andre van der Kouwe1, Thomas Benner1, Michael Hamm2, Bastien Guerin3, Larry Byars4, Christian Michel4, Georges El Fakhri3, Matthias Schmand4, Bruce R. Rosen1, A. Gregory Sorensen1
1MGH, Radiology, A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA; 2Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc., Charlestown, MA, USA; 3Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; 4Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc., Knoxville, TN, USA
Integrated MR-PET scanners capable of simultaneous data acquisition have recently been developed. An application that could benefit from simultaneity is MR-assisted PET motion correction. Typically, subject motion is difficult to avoid; in longer studies (more than a few minutes) or in uncooperative patients this motion leads to degradation (blurring) of PET images and in more severe cases to introduction of artifacts. Improved motion correction could be very beneficial to PET and an elegant solution presents itself in a combined MR-PET instrument.