Abstract #3796

Systematic Investigation & Correction of MR Influences on Simultaneous PET Measurements

Christoph Weirich¹, Daniel Brenner¹, Lutz Tellmann¹, Hans Herzog¹, Nadim Jon Shah^1,2

¹Institute of Neurosciene & Medicine - 4, Forschungszentrum Juelich, Juelich, Germany; ²Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, JARA, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

The combination of MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) offers the prospect of improved diagnostics, therapeutic monitoring and preclinical research. Recent studies showed an influence of MR measurements on simultaneous PET acquisitions resulting in drop of the measured count rate. This study aims at a systematic investigation and first steps towards a correction of this phenomenon. The overall measured PET count rate is sensitive to the action of MR gradients with each gradient direction exhibiting a different sensitivity.