Hybrid scanners

Chapter 41 Hybrid scanners



Chapter contents



41.1 Aim 301


41.2 Background 301


41.3 Historical development 301


41.3.1 The software approach 301

41.3.2 The hardware approach 301

41.4 The SPECT/CT hybrid scanner 302


41.5 The PET/CT hybrid scanner 302


41.6 The PET/MRI hybrid scanner 302


41.7 Other hybrid scanner combinations and current research 303


Further reading 303



41.1 Aim


The aim of this chapter is to introduce the reader to the basic principles and development of hybrid scanners.



41.2 Background


In medical imaging, we wish to produce images which will enable us to diagnose, treat (if possible) and monitor a disease process. Some images will produce good anatomical images (e.g. computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)) of pathology but will give little information about the physiological process occurring around the pathology. Other imaging devices will produce good images of the physiological processes involved in pathology (e.g. radionuclide imaging (RNI) and positron emission tomography (PET)) but give little information about associated changes in the anatomy around the pathology. Hybrid scanners attempt to collect both anatomical and physiological data and to merge this information to give a composite image, and for this reason they are sometimes referred to as multimodal imaging (MMI). Such has been the success of hybrid scanners that no manufacturer now produces a ‘stand-alone’ PET scanner.



41.3 Historical development


Historically there have been two approaches to producing the composite images. These will now be discussed.



41.3.1 The software approach

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Mar 6, 2016 | Posted by in GENERAL RADIOLOGY | Comments Off on Hybrid scanners

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