Experiment of in Vivo Imaging with Third Generation Setup Using Photon-Counting CT with 64ch Multi-Pixel Photon Counter

X-ray computed tomography is one of the commonly used diagnostic imaging technique. However, it has some problems which are lack of energy information and high dose exposure. These problems can be solved by using a next generation CT called Photon Counting CT (PC-CT). PC-CT can acquire multi-color images with significantly low radiation dose. The detector system of the PC-CT we propose consists of Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) coupled with a high-speed scintillator thus can be made with lower cost and simpler system. In this study, we propose a novel method of material decomposition using the MPPC based PC-CT. Furthermore, we imaged mice with MPPC based PC-CT system as a first attempt. Iodine and gadolinium mixed contrast agents and gold-nanoparticles (AuNPs) were injected when imaging. In addition, the CT images of mice showed bone, lungs, heart, kidneys, and bladder. As a future prospect, we will work on visualizing the pharmacokinetics in mice.