PET-CT scanner characterization for PET raw data use in biomedical research.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the experiments and methods that led to the geometrical interpretation of new-generation commercial PET-CT scanners, finalized to off-line PET-based treatment verification in ion beam therapy. Typically, the geometrical correspondence between the image domain (i.e., the dicom PET) and the sinogram domain (i.e., the PET raw data) is not explicitly described by scanner vendors. Hence, the proposed characterization can be applied to commercial PET-CT scanners used in biomedical research, for the development of technologies and methods requiring the use of PET raw data, without having access to confidential information from the vendors.