Recent Development of Preclinical PET/MR: From Hardware to Applications
Member-Initiated Symposium

ORGANIZERS: Simon Cherry, Willy Gsell, Bernd Pichler

Thursday, 21 June 2018

Session Number: MIS-19

Overview
This symposium provides an overview of the recent development for simultaneous acquisition of PET/MRI data in preclinical animal models. It covers the new hardware development (introduction of PET silicon photomultipliers, continuous crystal, RF coils) and an overview of the most recent applications in the fields of oncology, neurosciences and cardiac imaging. While clinical PET/MRI has been fast evolving in the last years, preclinical PET/MRI systems were facing difficult challenges that will be highlighted in the different talks. The combination of these complementary methods with high resolution and soft tissue contrast from MRI and the high sensitivity of the PET imaging provides a unique opportunity to investigate complex biological processes while minimizing the length of anesthesia (compared to sequential acquisitions).

Target Audience
Preclinical imaging scientist from different field (biologists, physicists, technologists) who are interested in learning about preclinical PET/MRI.

Educational Objectives
As a result of attending this course, participants should be able to:
- Identify the new state of the art of preclinical PET/MRI hardware;
- Recognize specific problems/limitations of PET/MRI applications in rodent; and
- Name the benefit of combining PET and MRI in preclinical animal models.