A SiPM-Based Clinical MRI-Compatible SPECT Insert

The first SiPM-based clinical SPECT ring for brain simultaneous imaging in standard MR scanners has been put into operation. Reliable operation of the instrument has been achieved by means of its optimization, such as the introduction of a dual-cooling system (liquid-gas) of the DAQ electronics. The static gantry is composed of 20 MRI-compatible γ-detection modules mounting 5 cm × 10 cm CsI(Tl) scintillators for a total of 1440 pixels (targeting a transaxial FoV of 20 cm). Here we present the results of a preliminary characterization showing 220 kcps max. count rate, 365cps/MBq sensitivity with the multislit-slat collimator, ~17% energy resolution and an average extrinsic spatial resolution of ~8 mm in the trans-axial plane.