HelmetPET: A silicon photomultiplier based wearable brain imager

We are developing the HelmetPET, a wearable human PET brain imager which has the potential application of evaluating brain function utilizing PET based radiopharmaceuticals in standing, balancing or moving patients. The HelmetPET is composed of two rings of radiation detectors together providing a cylindrical reconstructed volume with an axial length of 5 cm. Each ring is composed of twenty 2.5 cm² silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) based detector modules. Each detector module is composed of a 5×5 array of twenty-five Hamamatsu S10362-33-050P Multi Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs). The 3 mm² MPPCs are arranged on a 5mm step. Coupled to each of the MPPC modules is a LYSO scintillator crystal array coupled to the MPPC array using to two different LYSO pixel arrays: 1.0×1.0×10 mm³ and 1.5×1.5×10 mm³. The current phase of the project is to equip the forty 2.5 cm² detector modules with resistive readout and assemble them in a helmet type head support and suspend from a flexible mechanical mount.